Curated OER
President Jackson's Indian Removal Act and the Native American Perspective, Trail of Tears
Eighth graders review President Jackson's policy towards the Native Americans. They receive a handout "Samuel's Memory" to read. The link to this handout is not included in the lesson. Students fill out a multiple perspectives chart.
Curated OER
A Trail of Tears
Third graders listen to the retold account of the "Trail of Tears" that took place in Arkansas. They analyze the basic differences between cultures. They study the route the Indians took and the hardships that they faced.
Digital History
Digital History: Explorations: Indian Removal
In this exploration, students will examine the federal policy toward American Indians, why President Jackson introduced the Indian Removal Policy, Native American resistance to removal, and the human meaning of removal.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: The Effects of Removal on American Indian Tribes
Article discusses the removal of the American Indians from their native lands and examines the resulting effects and consequences of U.S. Government policy.
US National Archives
Our Documents: President Andrew Jackson's Message, 'On Indian Removal'
Interactive image of the original document through which President Andrew Jackson called for "Indian Removal," in 1830. Includes transcription as well as background and overview of the text and results of the Indian Removal policy.
US National Archives
Our Documents:president Jackson's Message to Congress 'On Indian Removal' (1830)
On December 6, 1830, President Jackson spoke to Congress about his position on relocating Indians in order to make way for settlers in the west. This paved the way for government policy in dealing with native peoples even after his...
Other
Collector's Guide: Indian Territory: Phoenix Rising From the Trail of Tears
A discussion of the art forms preserved by the Native Americans who were resettled by the U.S. government in the Indian Territory.
Virginia History Series
Virginia History Series: Indians of Virginia [Pdf]
Amazing visual presentation about the history of Indians in Virginia. included in this comprehensive slideshow are startling pictures and maps tracing the Native American culture from prehistoric times through the 1600's.
Other
Teach Us History: Indian Removal
A lesson plan unit that looks at the efforts of the Cherokee Nation in Georgia between 1817 and 1827 to establish their own system of governance and to keep their lands from being ceded. Even though the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in...
Other
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma: Government Throughout the Years
A wealth of information on the evolution of the Choctaw Nation's government from pre-removal to post-removal to having its own tribal Constitution. Copies of the numerous treaties the Choctaw made with the European settlers' government...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Indian Removal
By reading this section of a chapter on "Jacksonian Democracy," students will be able to explain the legal wrangling that surrounded the Indian Removal Act and describe how depictions of Indians in popular culture helped lead to Indian...
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Andrew Jackson: Domestic Affairs
A comprehensive overview of the domestic issues facing Andrew Jackson in his presidency, from the "spoils system" to veto of the bank recharter to his Indian removal policy.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Perspectives on the Trail of Tears
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, student groups will design and create a poster containing facts about the Trail of Tears as well as a collage and concluding statement expressing the group's feelings about the event.
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Excerpt From Trail of Tears Diary" by Jobe Alexander & Mary Hill
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...
HotChalk
Hot Chalk: Lesson Plans Page: Trail of Tears
This detailed site has students recreating what the Native Americans went through during the Trail of Tears. This lesson plan allows for critical thinking, collaboration, acting/role-playing, and writing.
Lin and Don Donn
Mrdonn.org: Daily Life in Olden Times: Southeast Cherokee Indians
Lesson and resources on the history of the Cherokee Indian tribe.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Themepark: Liberty: Native Americans
Find a large collection of internet resources organized around Native Americans. Links to places to go, people to see, things to do, teacher resources, and bibliographies.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian: National Museum of the American Indian: The Removal Act
At first, the Trail of Tears only described the Cherokee removal of 1838. Later it included the removals of all southeastern Native nations. Take a close look at these primary sources from the Smithsonian which include a reproduction of...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Removal of the Cherokees to Oklahoma
Essay on the plight of the Cherokee tribe as they fight to maintain control of their land in Georgia but are subsequently removed and forced to move to land in what is now Oklahoma.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Trail of Tears and Forced Relocation of Cherokee
This Teaching With Historic Places unit, designed for young scholars in grades 5-12 is about the conflict between American settlers and the Cherokee Nation. Students will outline events leading up to the forced relocation of the Cherokee...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Westward
Overview of U.S. westward expansion during the 1800s.
Digital History
Digital History: Indian Removal
The Indian Removal policy was inhumane and without empathy for the Native Americans who were forced from their lands. Read about the attempts to enforce federal treaties and the final removal of three major tribes from the Southeast.
Scholastic
Scholastic History Mystery: States and Territories: Indian Territory
Students try to guess the mystery subject Carlotta Facts, the History Mystery Museum's professor, is studying. They read the clues, do some online and offline research, and then attempt to identify the game's mystery subject, the Indian...
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: Cherokee Removal
Reveals the story behind the forced removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia to Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma.