Out of 335,000 Cherokee Indians living in the U.S. 120,000 live in the state of Oklahoma, due to the most racist legislation ever enacted in the U.S. Will Rogers was Cherokee. The Capitol of the Cherokee Nation is a few mikes from here.
It began with an agreement between the federal government and the state of Georgia. Georgia agreed to give up its western territory if the federal government would forcibly remove the Indians. This led to the Indian Removal Act requiring the Native American population to move west of the Mississippi.
The mass exodus (forced march) is known as the trail of tears, along which 1/3 of the Indians are believed to have perished. Those who survived ended up here.
The Cherokee home was originally in western North Carolina, eastern Tenesssee, and northern Georgia an Alabama.
Next to executive director David Schachle, Melissa and Rachel (Cheyenne and Arapaho, freshman and junior in high school) describe life in school here.
Michael Rinehart, bishop
Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
12941 1-45 North Freeway, Suite #210
Houston, TX 77060-1243
281-873-5665
http://gulfcoastsynod.org
http://bishopmike.com
http://twitter.com/breadtweet
Bishop Michael Rinehart 