I'm half blood hound,and half "Fugowie" Indian.every mourning I wake up,crawl out of my tent,look around and say "Fugowie".
One of the best things you can do for yourself and for your country is study its transgressions, and consider how things could be different. Then, study your own personal transgressions, and how you can make ammends. I tend to focus on local history. Canada is a different sort of a country where, at least for myself, I feel a connection to the land itself, rather than any sort of a nation state or constitution. So I study where various peoples have done needless harm to various peoples in this region, and the land itself, which is similar in nature as it ultimately effects people, and peoples, especially those closely connected to the land. The Cherokee were an interesting case, because they were both an advanced people with modern education and industry, but also maintaining strong connections to the land. Quite a loss, and story of survival for those that have. Much to be learned from the past. Much to be lost in the future. Everyone today with a connect to the land must in some small way feel the pressure and despair and loss of hope that the First Nations felt, and what it is to be truly and fully human, in this modern world.
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!
There are slaves in Genesis.
There are slaves every where; slavery is a fact throughout virtually all cultures. There are even slaves today.Originally Posted by BabySue
There were boats in Genesis also, but I'm not exactly sure what slaves or genesis has to do with the trail of tears.
I find it interesting that Cherokee is an Iroquoian language. The distribution of peoples in languages in North America provides some insight into how diverse people and culture can be in earlier times, if the geopgraphy and climate supports such diversity. California in particular had an incredible number of languages. Interesting also is the fact that the Arctic region historically had fewer cultures, with alot of cultural sharing over vast distances, but by todays standards they are quite diverse and distinct because they haven't been impacted quite as much, although they still have been impacted alot.
There are cheese knobs in Genesis.
Just say'in.
Speckled througout this thead are comments about where slaves are found and where slavery came from. One mentioned Greece and Rome. Another posited that the Greeks and Romans got slavery from an earlier culture. My comment about slaves being in Genesis was a continuation of that line of though. That is to say, if you're going to trace slavery backwards, you're going to have a lot of tracing to do. It's not as if my post, which was #63, was the one that got this thread off the specific topic of the Trail of Tears.
This thread went off tract early on, earlier than most and that's probably because the Trail of Tears really has nothing to do with Trail Concerns, Issues & History of the Appalachian Trail.
Sorry for the knee jerk reaction. My bad.
If one was to take a serious in depth interest in natural history along the trail during the hike, what woud be a good guidebook. Perhaps that`s something that could be available onlike, like a wiki, but one where you could just type in the mile marker you are at, and perhaps the radius you are interested in. Certainly the history of the Cherokee, and other people who are living or have lived along the trail is of interest to this forum, but perhaps not this thread.
History along the Appalachian Trail vs History of the Appalachian Trail.
Very true. It's as if some would like to demonize a certain people/culture. Fact is slavery predates written history and to say one culture started it is just crazy; like many things it didn't need to be passed from one culture to another -- what else you gonna do with all them prisoners of war. You can either kill them of have them do your most hated work
People are people regardless of ethnicity. I'm amazed some just don't get that.
BTW, they say that slavery probably didn't occur in hunter/gather societies, it's a function of civilization.
One of the major subdivisions in these forums is "Listing of Other Long Trails." Perhaps a Trail of Tears section could be created there. Though the Trail of Tears is not thru-hikable like the other trails in that section, there is plenty to discuss. A section like that could, for example, house discussions about where the AT and other major trails intesect, parallel, or are simply in the vicinity of the Trail of Tears or its features.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...2696&rss_lnk=1
I guess that's one trail that's been paved -- the AT will be next
On a happier note, something to think about when hiking the AT is that in addition to rivers, ridgelines around the world were common travel routes, especially before the introduction of roads and the clearing of forests for primitive or more modern agriculture. Ridgelines allow you to avoid the thick forests below, and perhaps just as today, to avoid potentially hostile settlements. So when you hike the AT you can certainly think about the first peoples that have travelled that same route, or there abouts. Keep the faith.
How about it?
Anything like that to get out to OK?
While living in OR, I had the pleasure of working with a professor named Dr. Ken Carloni. He was doing some amazing research regarding the ancient's use of fire for land clearing and maintenance of the forest to create "park like conditions." A breakthrough project of his linked forest ridgelines as trail systems between 10 native archaeological sites. He basically used computers (GIS) to hypothesize where the easiest, shortest, and most sensible trails may have been between these settlements that had already been discovered. Afterwards, ground-truthing proved that these trails had in fact been there, in the place he postulated! You could tell by unevenly aged trees, unnaturally cleared meadows, etc. This is fascinating to me. Although obviously not linked with the AT, one can assume that similar logical trails and techniques were used by the natives on this coast. Here is a link that summarizes his findings, for any nerds like me:
http://www.sosforests.com/?p=171
The history is everywhere around you if you can dig it up.
Once we drove the Natchez Trace Parway. This paralleled the old Natchez trace , which was a wilderness road used by migratory animals and native americans for thousands of years, from Natchez , MS to around Nashville, Tn. ~450 miles . It was heavily used for only about 30-40 yrs in the US before the advent of the steamboat where people could go upstream. It was most known for the farmers from the Ohio river valley that floated their goods down to New orleans on the Mississippi river, then had to walk home. It took them a month. The wilderness road cut across the Choctaw Indian nation and linked Louisiana with eastern colonial United States.
My point is, due to the historical significance, this road was saved as a national park, and there are informational sites every couple of miles. Sections of the original road remain that are sunken up to 10 feet deep in the ground from the usage. So many places to see from where an indian village was that Hernando DeSoto spent the winter of 1542 with, to where Andrew Jacksons troops camped on the way to New Orleans, to the buildings where Coucil house where Choctaw chiefs decided their fate, numerous indian mounds and village sites.
Off topic I know, but it was kind of a long trail, 200 yrs ago, and very interesting to explore. The history is all around us, we just havent saved much of it sadly.
Just thinking that with the Andrew Jackson's upcoming removal from the face of the $20 bill, it is a good occasion to think of all the history along the AT, and in particular the removal of the Cherokee around its southern terminus and the Trail of Tears.
i sincerely believe that knowing a bit of the history that took place along the AT really adds to the thruhiking experience, in ways that are not so obvious-- at least they were not for me at age 23. Just a thought-- whether on this topic or something else, ther are some things that can be appreciated differently when walking thru it, IMO.
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