Motorcyclists Remember the Cherokee Trail of Tears
Each year, thousands of people ride their motorcycles 230 miles from Tennessee to Alabama. The Annual Trail of Tears Motorcycle Ride takes place along one of the trails used in 1838 by American Indians who were forced from their homelands in the eastern United States.
How the Ride Came About
Bill Cason started the Trail of Tears Motorcycle Ride to mark the injustice done to American Indians many years ago. The first ride in 1994 began with just eight motorcyclists starting from Ross's Landing in Chattanooga, Tennessee. By the time the group reached Waterloo, Alabama, it had grown to 100 riders.
More than 150,000 motorcyclists now take part in this event each year. People travel from all over the world to participate. The Trail of Tears Motorcycle Ride has become the largest organized motorcycle ride in the world.
Remembering an Injustice
The ride got its name from an injustice that took place in the early nineteenth century. In 1830, the United States Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. The act ordered all the Indian nations in the eastern United States to move west of the Mississippi River. Some families voluntarily left their homes and businesses to move to Indian Territory in what is now the state of Oklahoma. The United States army forced others to leave. The Cherokee took their case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that it was against the law to force the Cherokee to move.
President Andrew Jackson decided to ignore the Supreme Court's decision. At first, the government told the Cherokee to leave by May 1838. After that, President Jackson ordered the United States Army to force the remaining Cherokee to move to Indian Territory. Under the command of General Winfield Scott, soldiers rounded up more than 17,000 Cherokee who had refused to leave. The soldiers put them in wagons or told them to walk to Oklahoma. The Cherokee had little to eat and the winter was very cold. Along the 1,000-mile trip, many people died.
The Cherokee Trail of Tears was a sad episode in the relationship between the United States and American Indians. Those who take part in the Trail of Tears Motorcycle Ride each year want to raise public awareness of the past mistreatment of American Indians. Riders on the Trail also want to make sure that such an injustice never happens again.