“Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race.”-― Martin Luther King Jr. The Trail of Tears Tears is a historical title given to an event that occurred in 1838. In this event, the Cherokee Native American community was forced by the United States government to relocate from their native home in the southern part of contemporary America in what is known as the Oklahoma Indian Territory. While some traveled by water, most traveled by land. It took the Cherokees 6 months to complete a distance of 800 miles to their destination. The Cherokee marched through bitter cold, rain, and snow. Many people died on this journey from starvation, disease, exposure, and the vagaries of unfamiliar terrain. Those who recounted this journey in later years spoke of a journey filled with tears brought on by immense suffering and death during this journey and hence the name Trail of Tears. Modern scholars and human rights advocates have described this event as one of the most famous genocides of the 19th century. This article will therefore attempt to demonstrate that the Cherokee community suffered human rights atrocities at the hands of the American government shortly before and during the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee lived in what is now the United States of America hundreds of years before its occupation by Europeans. History proclaims that members of this community migrated from the Great Lakes and settled in the southern Appalachians. When Europeans began to settle in America, the Cherokee decided to coexist peacefully with its foreign neighbors. Cherokee lands consisted of Alabama, parts of Virginia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, and Georgia....... middle of paper......Tears: Removal in the South. New York: InfoBase Publishing, 2007.Burgan, Michael. The trail of tears. Minneapolis: Compass Point book, 2001.Byers, Ann. Trail of Tears: A Primary Source History of Forced Relocation of the Cherokee Nation. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003. Gilbert, Joan. The Trails of Tears across Missouri. Missouri: University of Missouri.Hook, Sue. Trails of tears. New York: ABDO, 2010.Marsico, Katie. The traces of tears. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2009.Rozema, Vicki. Voices from the traces of tears. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, editor, 2003. Salas, Laura. The Trails of Tears, 1838. Mankato: Capstone Press, 2003.Sioux, Tracee. Native American migration. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2004.Sturgis, Amy. The traces of tears and the Indian deportation. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group,2007.