From the Chattanoogan.com:

Duane King, author of The Cherokee Trail of Tears, will speak at the Hunter Museum on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

The Cherokee Trail of Tears is an exhibit of photographs that chronicles the historic sites of the journey west. It is based on a book of the same name by photographer David G. Fitzgerald, a widely published photographer, and author Duane King, who is Executive Director of the Southwest Museum of the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. Photographs from the book are on exhibit at the Hunter Museum of American Art until March 30.

Between June 6 and Dec. 5, 1838, more than 15,000 Cherokees in 17 detachments were forcibly removed from their ancestral homeland in the Southern Appalachians to the Indian Territory on a journey that would later become known as the Trail of Tears. On this 850-mile march, 4,000 people died.

Wednesday’s program will also include comments from Rep. Zach Wamp and National Parks Superintendent Shawn Benge.

The presentation of the exhibition and related events are made possible through a partnership between the Hunter Museum of American Art and The Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park.