The Cherokee Female Seminary was the first institution of higher learning for women west of the Mississippi River. Originally built in 1847, it was a testament to the Cherokee Nation’s resolve to rebuild a resilient society following the Trail of Tears.
Before he became the famous “Cherokee Kid,” Will Rogers was known as “Lariat Bill.” In this Cherokee Almanac, we learn about an unlikely turn of events during his Broadway debut.
Reverend Daniel Butrick was a missionary to the Cherokees in the 1830s in present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. His journal begins at the Brainerd Mission Station and is one of the only known detailed accounts of the atrocities of the Trail of Tears. Rev. Butrick recorded sickness and death in concentration camps, where thousands of Cherokees were kept before being forced on the Trail.
Archivists at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, discover a handwritten ceasefire agreement that essentially ended the American Civil War.
Learn how the federal government bought the land it had granted to the Cherokee Nation and then gave it away as part of the largest land run in U.S. history.
