Message in the Wind

In 1838 & '39, Presidents Andrew Jackson & Martin Van Buren exiled the Cherokee Indians from their Tennessee River homeland to the barren wastelands of Oklahoma. More than 8,000 men, women, & children died in stockades & on the infamous "Trail of Tears." For 42 year-old Cherokee Althea Adams, finishing the trail was not cause for despair but for celebration. Last year, she became the first modern woman on record to walk the route from Rattlesnake Springs, Tennessee, to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, covering 1,100 miles. It was an incredible feat in a number of ways, not the least of which was that Adams had overcome childhood polio. The doctors never expected her to walk. "I had to walk The Trail of Tears. The removal of our people is a dark cloud in our history," says Adams. "No culture should go through this. As long as that trail is being walked, it will always be remembered." Because her ancestors weren't allowed to prepare for their journey, Adams didn't either. For four months, she walked between 15 & 28 miles a day wearing moccasins & lugging a 52-pound backpack. Not all of her fellow Americans were friendly en route, she found--some refused her shelter & food, & gangs confronted her. But, she says, "The only thing that would stop me from finishing this walk was the Great Spirit. Man was not going to get in my way." On January 5, 1993, she completed the Trail of Tears. Last May, Adams finished a book about her journey, MESSAGE IN THE WIND. Now she is teaching children about the Cherokee Nation & writing her autobiography.Adams-Wells, Alethea A. is the author of 'Message in the Wind' with ISBN 9780964578708 and ISBN 0964578700.