In the early 19th century, the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chicksaw tribes became known as the "Five Civilized Tribes". They had all been quick to adapt to and adopt the white man's skills, learn his arts, and even become Christians. The most prosperous of the five were the Cherokee of western Georgia. Their villages included, churches, schools, spinning wheels, blacksmith shops and even grist mills. In the early 1820's, it was Sequoyah, a self taught Cherokee scholar who gave his people an alpahbet and a written language to his people. In 1828, a bilingual newspaper was even published. The tribe even had a written constitution much like the United States, all of this progress displeased the white man. They wanted the lands that the Cherokee had worked so hard to establish. In 1838, the white man got what he so desperately coveted, and to this day, the Cherokee will always be known for their courage, honor, pride and strength, for the road they walked, the harshness they endured, took nothing from these brave people. They will forver be known for what they left behind on their way to another life.
They left a "Trail of Tears".
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