I Live For Freedom | Laveda D. Rockford

 

I Live For Freedom

As you know, I have been on vacation. It began on Monday morning in Missouri, and we arrived in Maryville, Tennessee that evening. The Lord graced us with beautiful sunshine every day that we were there.

The first day we drove into the Great Smoky Mountains, around curves, up mountains, and into valleys all green and yellow that introduced the early autumn season.

The beauty of it all gave me a piece of awe that you can only get when you know the love that was placed into such a sight as this. This is where my Cherokee ancestors lived.

While there, I had the privilege of visiting the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Between June 1838 through March 1839, approximately 16,000 Cherokee were removed from their tribal lands and relocated to Oklahoma. It is said that approximately 4,000 Cherokee died.

My Great-Great Grandmother was six years old when she walked this trail. Her Mother, my Great-Great-Great Grandmother, was one of those 4,000 who died crossing the great unknown. Not only were they removed from their tribal grounds, but many would not live to see the end of that trail.

This is why it is called the Trail of Tears.

Before such an act, there were many peace bargains, but greed was opposed to it from the very beginning. The sadness is evident on the faces I saw. 

This mural,

there are no words to describe it. It can only be described through emotion. The pain, the heartbreak, the Trail of Tears.

I would like to say that the human race became more than what history has accursed it to be, but the more that I watch the human race devise, the more I wonder.

This is only a portion of my ancestorial tree. It seems that I come from battered people.

But I rise.

I rise to the occasion. I live for freedom.

Love always,

Laveda D. Rockford

© 2023 Laveda D. Rockford