Today is the National Trail of Tears Commemoration Day—which marks the day in 1838 when the last of the (surviving) Cherokee Indians completed their forced march from their homeland (in the American Deep South) to the newly-christened "Indian Territory" (now called Oklahoma).
As the country's population of European-Americans grew, they began to petition the federal government to clear the Indians from the American Southeast—territory which the white settlers wanted to inhabit. When gold was discovered in Georgia in 1828, the drumbeat intensified. They found an enthusiastic advocate in President Andrew Jackson who pushed-through the Indian Removal Act of 1830, legislation which authorized the federal government to relocate members of the "Five Civilized Tribes" including the Cherokee, Muscogee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole tribes. It is interesting to note that another Tennessee Senator, Davy Crockett, advocated strongly against this legislation. An estimated 100,000 Native Americans were force-marched along the thousand mile route; an estimated 15,000 died enroute due to exposure, disease and starvation.
The cast iron bookends, shown above, are modeled after The End of the Trail sculpture by James Earle Fraser (first sculpted in 1894). The sculpture became famous when he cast a version for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition (in San Francisco). While his sculpture has been criticized by some for its bleak depiction of its subject, Fraser's intention was a critique of the federal government's treatment of Native Americans. He had grown-up around Native Americans and was moved by their plight. Fraser also designed the "Indian Head/Buffalo nickel" which was in use from 1913 to 1938. Click on the photo above to learn more about these handsome bookends.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
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