A former classmate from high school, who happenes to be in the military, got so upset when I "liked" a paper that stated US soldiers have and could again put US citizens in internment camps and we should be on guard. This classmate said the US has never locked up its own citizens and would never do such things; to say different would make me a conspiracy theorist. Errrrrr. WRONG.
There's a forgotton Holocaust - an American tale. We all know about the Jewish internment camps in Germany and Poland, and the Japanese internment camps here in the USA during WWII, but how many people know of the internment camps for the people of the Five Civilizied Tribes during the 1830-40's right here in America? Unless you grew up in the south, or are part Native American, chances are, you don't know about the Trail of Tears and the death camps.
Back in early April, my grandparents, now ex-husband and I drove down to Tahlequah to visit Tsa-La-Gi. It was so nice to go through the living history tour which has a replica village and then another replica town (post ancient Cherokee village) with a schoolhouse, church, etc. Because it wasn't summer and still really cold out, there weren't people cooking and playing games. Our tour guide demonstrated games, archery and a bunch of other cool stuff during the tour. He was really personable and funny.
Inside there is both ancient and modern (1500's-1800's) Cherokee clothing, pottery, weapons, etc. I liked the pottery stamps that you could color in the museum (sorta like when you put a leaf under paper and color over it to get the impression.)
Past the previously mentioned things in the back of the museum, I learned things I never knew. I always wondered why my Cherokee ancestors didn't put themselves on the 1900's Dawes Rolls - you have to be on it to be apart of the modern day tribes. My grandpa told me that if you were put on the rolls, you were basically a ward of the government. You had no property anymore or rights. You were basically no better off than a slave. You can't buy your freedom when the government has you by the neck. I learned more here as to why my ancestors hid out in the Ozarks rather than lose all the had to the Government.
On the wall are the accounts of eye-witness accounts of people watching a soldier bayonette a pregnant lady who fell on the trail, of the diseases and starvation that were rampant both on the trail and in the camps. It was absolutely stomach turning. I took a picture of every single wall board with information on it. Horrific.
This is definitely a place, just like the Holocaust museum in D.C., that people NEED to see. We must never get too careless or too delusional to think that this stuff doesn't or can't happen again by our very capable government. We can forgive but we won't foolishly forget or ignore what our own government has done to its own people.
If you want an eye-opening history lesson, COME HERE. read more
