May 28th, 1830: President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act which authorized the removal of Native people from the southeast region of the United States. This legislation lead to the Trail of Tears, a twenty-year forced removal of over 60,000 native people including Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole tribes. Around 10,000 people died traveling the Trail of Tears.
The Poe Museum
Richmond, VA