Resources
Sources and collections for the case studies, starting with the Trail of Tears capstone. Every link below opens a library, archive, university, or government site.
Trail of Tears: course materials
- Trail of Tears — Primary Source Reader — twelve numbered documents for the worksheet.
- Trail of Tears — Fillable Worksheet — the analytical checklist you turn in as a PDF.
- Assignment instructions — what to turn in and how to save a PDF.
Trail of Tears: primary source collections
- National Park Service, “The Trail of Tears and the Forced Relocation of the Cherokee Nation” — a Teaching with Historic Places lesson with eyewitness readings.
- Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (National Park Service) — the routes, historic sites, and history of the trail.
- National Archives, Jackson’s Message to Congress on Indian Removal (1830) — full text and a scan of the original.
- Digital History (University of Houston), Indian Removal Act of 1830 — the text of the law.
- Digital History, John Ross letter of September 28, 1836 — the Cherokee chief’s protest against the Treaty of New Echota.
- Oklahoma State University, Treaty with the Cherokee, 1835 (Kappler) — the Treaty of New Echota.
- Western Carolina University, Cherokee Phoenix transcriptions — the Cherokee Nation’s bilingual newspaper, 1828–1834.
- Library of Congress, Chronicling America — search historic U.S. newspapers, including 1838 reports of the removal.
Trail of Tears: law and scholarship
- Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), Cornell Legal Information Institute — the “domestic dependent nations” decision.
- Worcester v. Georgia (1832), Cornell Legal Information Institute — the Court’s ruling for the Cherokee.
- New Georgia Encyclopedia, “Worcester v. Georgia (1832)” — background, including Jackson’s response.
- Theda Perdue, “Cherokee Women and the Trail of Tears” (1989), PDF — a historian’s article quoting soldiers, missionaries, and survivors.
- Russell Thornton, “Cherokee Population Losses during the Trail of Tears” (1984), JSTOR — the study behind the higher death estimates. A college library login may be needed.
Definitions and other cases
- United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention, “Definitions” — genocide, ethnic cleansing, and related crimes.
- Avalon Project (Yale Law School), Genocide Convention (1948) — the full treaty text.
- International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia — judgments and case records from the Yugoslav wars.
- UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Srebrenica — records and testimony on the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.
Podcasts and audio
- Podcast: “Ethnic Cleansing: History, Definitions, and Consequences” (Spotify) — an optional listening companion to the framework.