Brittani Trollinger, Campus Carrier Staff Reporter
On March 13, the “Remembering the Trail of Tears” lecture series came to a close with speaker Sarah H. Hill presenting “Cherokees, Georgians, and the Trail of Tears from Rome, 1838.”
As an independent scholar and writer of “Weaving New Worlds: Southeastern Cherokee Women and their Basketry,” Hill has recently turned her attention to the removal of Cherokees from the North Georgia area.
Hill said she has had a love for the Cherokee for several years now, but doing research with the state chapter of the National Trail of Tears Association, she became intrigued to learn about the Cherokee in North Georgia.
“Once I began to do the research, after going through state archives and getting in touch with people in Washington at the national archives, we found some names of forts where they were and the surprise was to find out that there was a fort and a camp right here in Rome,” Hill said.
Hill said in her lecture that her research led her to find that there were around 16,000 Cherokees across four states, 9,000 of whom were in the state of Georgia and around 790 in Floyd County.
Jim Watkins, associate professor of English, rhetoric and writing, said he enjoyed the lecture and that the Cherokees are of particular interest to him because he teaches Native American literature and has published material on the subject.
“Dr. Hill’s important, original research from the few remaining historical documents showed the extent to which the state of Georgia led its neighboring states in mistreating and advocating for the removal of the Cherokees,” Watkins said. “She gave a detailed account—the first I have ever heard—of the precise manner in which they were rounded up and removed.”
Hill said she hopes the community will learn and grow from what they have uncovered about the North Georgia Cherokees.
“I think we need to look back at historical moments like this and learn from them and learn that people who don’t look like us are not necessarily our enemies,” Hill said.