Felix Clary
Tulsa World Indigenous Affairs Reporter
A dozen Cherokee cyclists hit the road Monday on their journey back to Oklahoma, re-creating the Trail of Tears their ancestors walked.
The Remember the Removal Bike Ride commemorates the forced removal of Cherokees from their homelands in Georgia through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas before reaching Indian Territory. Of the estimated 16,000 who began the march, about 4,000 died due to exposure, starvation and disease.
Shawna Baker, a Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice from Tulsa, is a mentor rider participating in the event's 40th year. She and her team from Oklahoma met up with another team of riders from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and rode to New Echota, Georgia, where the Trail of Tears began.
“In each location, you feel a different weight your ancestors carried,” Baker said Tuesday in a Tulsa World interview.
People are also reading…
“In one place we visited, there just so happened to be a field nearby where a number of Cherokees camped for months while they were waiting to begin their walk on the Trail of Tears,” Baker said. “The weight in that field is heavy.”
Shawna Baker, a Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Justice from Tulsa, said the most impactful moment for her on the 40th anniversary Remember the Removal Bike Ride was visiting the tribal council house at the New Echota State Historic Site in Georgia. “Coming to the point where our courts and laws originated ... encourages me to be a better jurist," she said.
Baker said the most impactful moment for her so far was visiting the council house at the New Echota State Historic Site in Georgia.
“They reconstructed what would have been important buildings like the council house. The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court has met there,” Baker said. “Coming to the point where our courts and laws originated was really impactful to me as a justice, and it encourages me to be a better jurist.”
The cyclists plan to ride about 60 miles a day before reaching Tahlequah on June 21.
“I feel great. I’m very grateful that we've had beautiful weather, and an outpouring of local support from church groups and other organizations. They have lifted our spirits with their hospitality, keeping us upbeat and vibrant,” Baker said.
Shawna Baker, a Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Justice from Tulsa, is participating as a mentor rider for this year's Remember the Removal Bike Ride. “Looking at my personal genealogy shows I’m the seventh-generation descendant from those who walked the (Trail of Tears)," Baker said.
As a mentor rider, Baker said her goal is to help the Cherokee youth participants discover who they are as individuals.
“In the Cherokee culture we teach that we make important, thoughtful decisions because they impact up to the seventh generation. ... I am the seventh generation since my ancestors walked the Trail of Tears," Baker said. "So I focus on my family’s grit, resilience and perseverance."
She said that while her home is in Oklahoma, her other home is in Cherokee, North Carolina, the point of creation in her tribe’s creation story.
“It’s the birthplace of all Cherokees, like the garden of Eden, if you will. So we are traveling to our home there, then back to our home in Oklahoma,” said Baker.
For those interested in the history of the Remember the Removal Bike Ride, the Cherokee Nation created a documentary short film about the inaugural event in 1984: youtu.be/8pR9IQptHvw.
When the Cherokee Nation began the Remember the Removal Bike Ride in 1984, participants said they were disappointed at the lack of historic markers on the Trail of Tears. The National Park Service began installing the markers in the 1990s.
Tulsa World is where your story lives
The Tulsa World newsroom is committed to covering this community with curiosity, tenacity and depth. Our passion for telling the story of Tulsa remains unwavering. Because your story is our story. Thank you to our subscribers who support local journalism. Join them with limited-time offers at tulsaworld.com/story.
This story is co-published by the Tulsa World and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in Oklahoma.
Felix Clary
Tulsa World Indigenous Affairs Reporter
