For those who need a refresher, here is a brief history of the Trail of Tears:

What is the Trail of Tears?

In the 1830s, federal and state officials forced thousands of Native Americans from their land in the southeastern United States, including Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. The forced relocation affected thousands of Cherokees, as well as the Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole tribes, among others.

The Native people were forced out of their homes and put in internment camps before they were pushed westward to designated Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma, according to the Trail of Tears Association, a nonprofit that works to preserve the historic trail and promote awareness.

Some 15,000 Native people died during the journey from exposure, malnutrition, exhaustion and disease, including about 4,000 Cherokees.

“It’s a terribly tragic event in Cherokee history and looms large,” said Jace Weaver, the director of the Institute of Native American Studies at the University of Georgia, who has studied the Cherokee removal.

What led to the forced relocation?

In the early 1800s, the federal government made an agreement with Georgia to remove all Native Americans from the state. But little was done to enforce it immediately, according to Dr. Weaver.

Then, in 1829, gold was discovered on Cherokee land in northern Georgia, which ramped up efforts to dislodge the Cherokees, according to the Trail of Tears Association. Around the same time, Andrew Jackson became president and began to “aggressively” pursue a policy of relocating Native populations, the association said.

Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the government to relocate Indian tribes in exchange for unsettled territory in the west.