Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated by dragging the pointer on the timeline bar, located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile. To filter by a specific topic, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. To learn more, click “Read More” below.

Read More

The Cherokee people forcibly removed and relocated to "Indian Territory," which is now known as Oklahoma.

1838

COL
INDG
GENO
PIC
LEG

The first phase of removal includes concentration camps, where 12% die of dysentery, before those imprisoned are forcibly marched to what is known today as Oklahoma. Twenty-five percent of the original community dies before reaching the final destination.

The Cherokee people lobby Congress and create a petition with more than 15,000 Cherokee signatures against removal. They take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in Worcester v. Georgia (1832) rules that they are a sovereign nation. President Andrew Jackson ignores the Supreme Court's decision, enforces his Indian Removal Act of 1830, and pushes through the Treaty of New Echota.

There are similar forced marches for the Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seneca, Wyandot, Potawatomi, Sauk and Mesquakie, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Miami, Kickapoo, Ponca, Modoc, Kalapuya, and Takelma peoples.