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Trail of Tears

 

When trying to find an episode of the American Life, I wanted to find a story that was not at the top which would have probably been already picked, so I chose the Trail of Tears. In the episode, two Cherokee sisters Sarah and Amy Vowell recount their experience of driving through the Trail of Tears.

Another reason I chose this particular episode is that Native American and Indigenous history overall greatly interests me and have not been educated on the Trail of Tears all that much. I can say without hesitation that the American school system has failed me in the way that I learn more about my country’s history in my AP English class than history at all. I also believe that I should not have to wait until college to hear the real, raw story—the story that Sarah and Amy know all too well. One thing that I learned from this episode is the horrific events that Sarah and Amy’s ancestors had to experience has resulted in generational trauma, yet they are conflicted. They feel a need and want to know their history, but at the same time, they ask, “what good will come of this?” Compared to their ancestors, the girls do not exactly feel the pain as Cherokees, but as Americans. One thing I noticed is that Sarah and Amy feel pain and mourn in different ways. I wondered to myself if their different appearances could be a result of this, as Sarah has darker hair and brown eyes, while Amy has blonde hair and blue eyes. Their grandfather even had different nicknames for them, with Sarah being “injun” and Amy as “swede.” As a whole, they feel the same amount of oppression and anger towards the American government, but just the individual pieces are unique and personal to themselves.

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