My Native American roots: Cherokee (audio)

Sarah and Amy Vowell, Host Ira Glass (This American Life, Episode #716, "Trail of Tears," Sept. 4, 2020); Xochitl (gabrielenoindians.org), Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The "Trail of Tears" runs from the doorsteps of Cherokee to their graves along the way to OK.

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For the long holiday weekend, let’s take a road trip through U.S. history.

This is a moment when as Americans we are tearing down our racist monuments and rethinking how to address the shameful parts of America’s past.

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So let’s return to a story from the early days of the radio show This American Life that took that on, in a vivid and complicated way.

Sarah Vowell (shown at left) and her blond twin sister Amy -- "Injun" and "Swede," as they were called growing up in the South -- headed out on the road to retrace their Cherokee roots on the Georgia/Oklahoma Trail of Tears.

It was the route their ancestors took when they were expelled from their own land by greedy Whites. They reflect on the question, What are we supposed to do with the mix of good and bad that is this country? Details + AUDIO