How The Trail of Tears Impacted Wes Studi's Ancestors, Finding Your Roots, PBS

[appalachiablue]

[TwilightZone]

1. One of my DNA cousins on Ancestry is half Native-American.

It's a connection I wasn't aware of until doing some genealogical research.

I tracked that part of the tree back to the Trail of Tears where information became sparse, and it became difficult to continue...and it was incredibly depressing.

[appalachiablue]

2. Very interesting for you, and the tragic Trail of Tears. My

family has Native American ancestry 200+ years ago and from 2 other generations more recently.

[TwilightZone]

3. I had pretty solid knowledge of the Trail.

My mom was an American history teacher, I spent a lot of time on reservations with my grandparents as a kid, and I did a lot of reading on the subject, as well as other Native American history, but I wasn't aware of the familial connection. My father was adopted and there were rumors, but they were later proven unfounded. Then, ironically, I found the cousin through DNA.

Putting tangible names, connections, dates, and specific locations on it gave it further depth, as personal connections often do.

[appalachiablue]

7. That's all great and inspires me to get back into family

genealogy research which I started years ago. It's fascinating and more info becomes available every year.

[Doc Sportello]

4. One of my favorite episodes from one of my favorite shows

Studi was so thoughtful and had such an interesting family history, going back to his famous female warrior ancestor. The other guest, Levar Burton, was so eloquent and also had a compelling lineage.

[appalachiablue]

6. Those are great, I luv the show too. We saw Wes Studi

once in Sante Fe, NM 1990s during the summer Native American Festival. He had a property in the area I think.

[Doc Sportello]

8. Yes he lives on a farm outside Santa Fe

He has deep Cherokee roots and still has family in Oklahoma where he grew up but moved to NM in the 90s. I was happy to see him join the cast of Reservation Dogs and, of course, he was great in it.

[appalachiablue]

9. Terrific, thanks for the info. One of our best visits

to Santa Fe was with East Indian friends who really enjoyed the annual festival with dancers and cultural festivities.

Earlier they had liked the film, Last of the Mohicans with Studi which I forgot we watched together. I want to see Flower Moon as difficult as it is given the tragic history, so heartbreaking. - I'll check out Reservoir Dogs, thanks.

[Doc Sportello]

10. Just one more thing

I promise it will be the last. Another festival to check out if you haven't already is the one hosted by the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff called the Heritage Festival, which features the Navajo, Zuni and Hopi tribes every summer.

I haven't seen Killers of the Flower Moon yet either but did read the book, which was excellent. And Reservation Dogs is one of my favorite all-time shows ever. Three seasons of absolute gems that portrayed Native Americans the way I knew them growing up in Oklahoma - created by native son Sterlin Harjo. It's hilarious, touching and gives, in my view, white people such as myself a lens into their culture like I have never seen before.

[Deuxcents]

5. I love this show. It's on here every Tuesday and I rarely miss it. It's fascinating, heartbreaking and

Wonderful how the researchers can follow the information so many generations back and fill in the lost time and put the puzzle together. Most of the time. It’s a fantastic gift to know who you are and how ya got here.