Trail of Tears
By: Lindsey
Comparison
What was the Trail of Tears?
Who Was Involved?
Connections
I think that this quote from African American history, can relate to both situations because both had to endure such terrible situations that it is both horrifying and disgusting that people would do this to the average human being.
Another connection to the Trail of Tears is World War ll. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America rounded up all of the Japanese-Americans, who had come to America in search of a new life, and forced them into camps, very much like concentration camps of the Jews. The Americans did this because they thought that there had to be a Japanese spy in America that was telling the Japanese how to really shake up America. "As far as I'm concerned, I was born here, and according to the Constitution that I studied in school, that I had the Bill of Rights that should have backed me up. And until the very minute I got onto the evacuation train, I says, 'It can't be'. I says, 'How can they do that to an American citizen?'" ~Robert Kashiwagi. I think that this is similar to the Trail of Tears because both people were taken from there homes and moved to camps or reserves where they were treated poorly because they didn't know how to live without the knowledge of their surroundings.
Based on the rights of the Native Americans, my last connection is to Civil Rights. I decided to make this connection because both of these people weren't treated with the same respect as others. They were forced to be treated as less than whole people and it created neglect and resentment for both sides of the argument in each situation. "We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching, and being afraid the house would burn down." ~Rosa Parks. I think that this quote is a good statement to the connection because many Cherokees felt that they had to be very watchful because on several incidents, the Europeans would try to raid their villages and take them away on a march away from their homes.
I think that these three are very strong connections to the Trail of Tears because they all have something to do with different parts of American history that led to the Trail of Tears.
Connections to the Experiments
Experiments
The Stanford Prison Experiment was also a test under authority. 72 college students took a test and only 24 were admitted into the experiment because they didn't have any records of drugs, alcoholism, or violence. They were then arrested from their houses and had to wait at a prison while they people part of the experiment set up the Stanford basement to look like a prison. They then flipped a coin to see who would be the prisoners and who would be the guards out of 12 people. The guards got sunglasses, a uniform, and a billy club, while the prisoners got short dresses with no underwear or shorts underneath and stocking caps to put on their heads. They were then stripped naked for any signs of lice or disease that could get the other people in the experiment sick. They then were put into their cells and each day the conditions got worse. They were stripped of their clothing and beds, and were put into closets for bad behavior. Some broke down into nervous rashes and uncontrollable crying. Others starved themselves so they could leave. It got so bad that within 6 days, the experiment was stopped. It showed that everyday people can be changed very quickly by how much power you give them. (both under http://vmmoodle.vmbulldogs.com/)
I also think that the Stanford Prison Experiment could relate to the Trail of Tears because the prisoners were stripped of their clothing, beds, and bathrooms when they didn't do what the guards asked them to. "The Stanford Prison Experiment has become one of psychology's most dramatic illustrations of how good people can be transformed into perpetrators of evil, and healthy people can begin to experience pathological reactions - traceable to situational forces." (Stanford Prison Experiment on Moodle)The Native Americans were stripped of their rights and land because the Europeans wanted to have more room for expansion. They were moved to a reservation where many died because they didn't know how to live off the land.
I think that these connections represent what life was like for the Native Americans living in America and how settlers had a big impact on the Cherokee culture. I hope that many people realize that people make mistakes sometimes. But this was not a mistake. This was part of an American loss in our history. What would life have been like if the Native Americans were still here and how could we have benefited from it?
"I fought through the war between the States, and have seen many men shot, but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work I ever knew." ~Georgia soldier who participated in the removal (http://home-design-information.com/the-cherokee-vs-the-police-state-david-kretzmann.html/trail-of-tears-andrew-jackson-quotesthe-cherokee-vs-the-police-state-david-kretzmann-nopbx)
I think that this is a good quote because is basically says just how cruel the Cherokees were treated.
Pictures
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/article.php?id=10
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/primary_sources.htm