The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy

"The Trail of Tears Cherokee Legacy", narrated by James Earl Jones and featuring Wes Studi (who speaks his native Cherokee in the film, with English subtitles), explores one of America's darkest periods. After the Louisiana Territory was purchased in 1803, the US Government adopted a policy to move Indians west of the Mississippi to allow for white settlers to take over the eastern lands. President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 led to the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from the Carolinas and Georgia to Oklahoma in 1838-1839. Nearly a quarter of the Cherokee Nation died during the Trail of Tears, arriving in Indian Territory with few elders and even fewer children. This production has won numerous awards including a Telly Silver Award, Aurora Platinum Award, Silver World medal New York Festivals, and Best Documentary at the 2006 American Indian Film Festival.