‘Trail of Tears’ is Focus of Indigenous People of the Americas Day

The annual observance of Indigenous People of the Americas Day at the University of Arkansas will be held from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, October 11, and feature several events.

This year's observance will focus on the forced removal of Native Americans, in the 1830s, over the "Trail of Tears". Thousands of people died during the thousand mile journey to the designated Indian territories in what is now Oklahoma. A section of the trail crosses northwest Arkansas.

The Indigenous People's Day events will begin with a screening of the documentary film The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy (2006) at 10:00 a.m. in Giffels Auditorium. This screening is free and open to the public.

From 1-2:30 p.m. at the Peace Fountain outside Old Main, members of the Honors Film Association, Native American Student Association, and OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology will read passages from journals kept by those who walked the Trail of Tears. Members of the public are encouraged to join in with readings relating to the Trail of Tears during this open forum. The reading will be held in Mullins Library room 104 in the event of rain.

Following the readings there will be a procession from the Peace Fountain to the historical marker near the intersection of Garland Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. This marker commemorates the location where 1,110 Cherokee camped in 1839, during their journey to Indian Territory. At 3 p.m. there will be a ceremony in which members of Heritage Partner will speak about the historic routes through northwest Arkansas which are part of the Trail of Tears

The University of Arkansas Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Observance is sponsored by the Honors Film Association; the Native American Student Association; the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology; the Honors College; the Multicultural Center; and the Department of Communication. For more information about this observance, visit the website or contact Frank Scheide.