The memorial set · twelve Trail of Tears designs, a matching gift with every shirt · printed in the USA
Most of us learned a date and a name. Almost never how many.
One chapter, then the class moved on. A law, a treaty, a map with an arrow pointing west. The count is harder, because the record gives estimates, not a final number.
The record is still there. The vote, the court case, the treaty and the people who protested it. Here it is, in order, with the source under each part.
1830
It was legislated, voted on, and signed.
This was not a drift of settlers. On May 28, 1830, the Indian Removal Act was signed into law. It passed the House by four votes, 101 to 97. That December, President Andrew Jackson told Congress it was a “benevolent policy.”
Library of Congress · House vote record, May 26, 1830 · National Archives, 1830 message to Congress
1832
It went to the Supreme Court. Georgia lost.
In Worcester v. Georgia, the Supreme Court struck down a Georgia law that tried to control who could live on Cherokee land. Six years later, removal still went ahead.
Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832)
1835
Twenty men signed it. More than fifteen thousand said no.
The Treaty of New Echota ceded all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi. Twenty men signed it. None of them was an elected official of the Cherokee Nation. More than 15,000 Cherokee protested it. The U.S. Senate ratified it in May 1836 anyway.
National Park Service
1838–39
Out of kitchens, out of fields, onto the road.
Soldiers forced more than 16,000 Cherokee out of their homes and into holding camps. Then they were sent west. By November, twelve groups of about 1,000 people each were on the road, about 800 miles overland.
National Park Service
The count
“No one knows how many died.”
The National Park Service says no one knows how many died throughout the ordeal. The estimate it cites, over 4,000 Cherokee dead, comes from Elizur Butler, a missionary doctor who traveled with them. About 100,000 people from many nations were moved west between 1830 and 1850. An estimated 3,500 Creek died in Alabama and on the journey west. Some were moved in chains.
The journey was especially hard on infants, children and the elderly.
National Park Service
Today
A textbook can be revised. A person is harder to edit.
A syllabus can drop a page. A shirt in a grocery line, with a route and a date printed on it, gets read. Someone asks what it means. That is how a story stays told.
Pick three shirts. Three gifts come with them.
Each gift is printed with a design you picked: a wooden ornament to hang, a keychain to carry, a sticker for the car window. One to wear, the others for the people who should have been told.
Twelve designs, no two alike, all about the same road. When a stranger asks what it means, that question is the whole point.
Buy 3, get 3 gifts
Free with your set
Added to your cart at $0, no code to type · Just pay shipping
1
Pick your deal
Prices shown for sizes M to XL. Size S is $1 less; 2XL to 4XL cost a little more.
2
Pick your designs
0 of 3Each shirt brings a free gift printed with a design you picked. Repeat a design to give one away.
Kaira
Kiona
Lomasi
Kimama II
Kohana
Sakima
Aruna
Nodin
Hiawatha
Elu
Wapun
Your free gifts
Each gift takes the design of one of your shirts. Change it if you like.
Gifts$0.00 Free
You pay$0.00
Your gifts go into the cart with your shirts at $0. You review everything there before you pay.
From Layla, founder of Americanista
Why these gifts are free
I ordered wooden ornaments, wooden keychains and stickers in the same artwork as these shirts. I was told they would be here in early August.
August came and went. Then September. Still nothing.
They only arrived at the end of October, every last one of them. Honestly, it hurt to open those boxes so late.
By then the holidays were close, and storage for us costs the most right now. Keeping them on a shelf through the holidays would cost us more than they are worth.
So I made a call: I would rather they go home with you than sit in storage. For a limited time, they go out free with your set: two shirts come with an ornament and a sticker, three add a keychain, four add a second ornament. With two or more shirts, the e-book Echoes From The Trail comes free too.
This offer comes down the day the last box is gone.
- TodayYou pick your set.
- 2–5 business daysEach shirt is printed in the USA, then ships.
- At your doorAbout 5–10 business days in the U.S., tracked.
4.9 from 221 verified reviews across americanista.com · Read them
“The reason I bought this shirt: I had a great grandmother to pass away on the trail of tears. My heart goes out to all families.”
Gail B. E. — verified review · Kaira
“I have people looking at me but unsure if they knew the heart. I currently live in Middle Tennessee, a part of the Trail. And I speak my innermost heart and protest without saying a word.”
Colleen B. — verified review · Kaira
“Love my t shirt. I have gotten several comments and I have told each and every one to remember what horror we did to the first americans.”
Elizabeth W. — verified review · Ketso
“This shirt is the perfect size. I’m happy to have it to wear on Indigenous Peoples Day!”
Holly C. — verified review · Kiona
“My wife took it from me and wore it to her school. She says she got numerous compliments on it. I guess I’m going to have to order another one if I am going to get to wear it!”
Micheal E. — verified review · Kimama II
Printed in the USAMade after you order it.
7-day guaranteeRefund or replacement, your choice. Nothing to mail back.
Secure checkoutShop Pay · PayPal · Apple Pay · cards
Customer reviews
From the people wearing them
4.9 from 221 verified reviews across every shirt in our store
The details
What you are actually getting
- The shirt
- Heavyweight pure cotton, thick enough to hang properly rather than cling. Soft, relaxed, lived-in look.
- Sizes
- S to 4XL. These run roomy; between two sizes, take the larger one.
- Print side
- Kaira, Kiona and Kohana come printed on the front or the back. The rest are printed on the front.
- The words
- The lines on these shirts are our designs. They are not quotations from anyone who walked the trail.
- In the box
- The shirts you picked. Nothing to redeem, no code, no card to keep.
Questions
Before you pick
Can I pick the same design more than once?
Yes. Add it again and pick a different color or size, or the same one. Keep one, give one.
Why these twelve?
Kiona, Ketso, Lomasi and Kaira are our four most-ordered Trail of Tears designs since the store opened. The other eight are more of our best-selling Trail of Tears designs, each one different.
How do the gifts work?
Pick your shirts and the gifts go into your cart at $0, each printed with a design from your set. You can change which design goes on each gift before you add the set. You see every item in the cart before you pay.
What are the gifts?
The ornament is printed wood, about 3.5 inches, with a ribbon. The keychain is printed wood, about 2.5 inches, on a steel ring. The sticker is waterproof die-cut vinyl, about 4 inches. All three are printed in the USA after you order.
Do the gifts come in the same box?
They may arrive in a separate package from your shirts, because they are printed at a different workshop. Both are tracked.
Does my store code stack on top?
No. One code works per order, and on this page the gift code is applied for you.
Which size should I choose?
These shirts run roomy. Width is measured flat, pit to pit; double it for the full chest.
What if I do not like one?
Email support@americanista.com within 7 days of delivery. A full refund or a replacement, you choose. You never mail anything back; pass the first one to a clothing charity near you.
Wrong size?
Tell us within 7 days of delivery and we send the right one, free. No exchange fee, no restocking fee.
Buy 3 shirts.3 gifts free.
Any three shirts from this page, with an ornament, a keychain and a sticker in your designs. Wear one. Hand the others down.
