In celebration of Native American Month, Sequoyah Birthplace is presenting several programs. On Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2pm, the museum will host a free lecture with Dale Stewart narrating the history of the Trail of Tears with special attention on the “Water Route,” surveying its past on the largest possible scale. Dale will also do a book signing after the lecture.
Dale Stewart is known worldwide as a naturalist, explorer, published author and educator. For a quarter of a century Dale has sought out, lived with, and studied remote indigenous tribes on six continents and solo paddled many of the world’s great rivers, but since 2008 he has become interested in the history of Americas indigenous tribes, the American Indian, with special emphasis on the forced relocation, known as the Trail of Tears.
In 2012, he became the first to solo paddle the Trail of Tears Water Route. A journey that retraced over 1,300 river miles. His journey of discovery, started at Ross’s Landing, Chattanooga, Tenn. and ended at Ft. Gibson, Okla. and took Dale onto the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas rivers.
Starting soon after this amazing journey, Dale began lecturing on the “Water Route”. Dale is currently writing a book, “Four Rivers – One Man’s Journey Retracing the Water Trail of the Trail of Tears: and developing an Internet based educational program for high-school students.
Building on the foundations of others and backed by five years of research, Dale narrates a history of the Trail of Tears with special attention on the “Water Trail.” From the earliest contact with white settlers through the forced removal, in a riveting 60 minutes, Dale brings alive what was the Trail of Tears. This is “Big History”; an enlightening, wide-angle look at the complexity, life and humanity, set against the hardships, heartache, and survival of the forced Indian removal.
This lecture is sponsored in part by the East Tennessee Foundation’s John D. Grubb & Louise G. Sumner Fund for Monroe County grant.
Info: Sequoyah Birthplace Museum (423) 884-6246 or www.sequoyahmuseum.org
– Sequoyah Birthplace Museum
