Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People

Beginning with the birth of the Cherokee patriarch Major Ridge in the 1770’s, Thurman Wilkins tells the events that led to the Trail of Tears, through the eyes of the illustrious Ridge family. Major Ridge and his Connecticut—educated son John were willing to abandon the rich tribal homelands in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia and emigrate west to the Indian Territory to escape the white invaders.

During the decades of fruitless negotiations that culminated in the infamous Tr...