Throughout recorded history, the amount and level of cruelty that Man has levied upon his fellow humans is extraordinary.  For example, recall the horrors of the Romans feeding Christians to wild animals at the Coliseum,  the various instruments of torture of the Spanish Inquisition, WW II's Holocaust, and the recent genocide in Darfur, Bosnia, and Iraq.

The worst examples always seem to be related either to race or religion.

We Americans have our own example of atrocity in our history.  However, this sad saga has largely been white-washed in our history books.

I became aware of the Cherokee "Trail of Tears" a few years ago, and after reading about it, decided to follow the physical trail from North Carolina to Oklahoma, taking pictures along the way. 

I spent more than three weeks on the road, combing the countryside, talking with Cherokees and visiting the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee.  The University has the largest collection of information regarding the Cherokees in the world.

Join me in visiting this amazingly sad and mostly obscured chapter of our history.