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TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Oklahoma Chapter of the National Trail of Tears Association will hold its semi-annual meeting in the Cherokee Nation tribal council chambers in Tahlequah at 3 p.m., June 26.

Along with regular business, an election will take place for officers, and an announcement will made that Jack Baker, president of the Oklahoma chapter, is the new president of the National Trail of Tears Association.

After the meeting, chapter members will visit Ross Cemetery, located off of State Highway 82 south of Tahlequah, 1.5 miles east on Murrell Home Road, to honor Cherokee Chief John Ross and other family members by placing bronze plaques on their graves. The plaques will signify Ross and the others survived the Cherokee Trail of Tears of 1838-39 when approximately 15,000 Cherokee people were forced to make their way to Indian Territory and leave what remained of their homelands in Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.

Nine Cherokees and two non-Cherokees, who provided assistance to the Cherokee people during and after the removal, have been honored with the plaques. The 2 x 4 inch plaques read: "In honor of one who endured the forced removal of the Cherokees in 1838-39."

John Ross was chief of the Cherokees from 1828-1866, during some of the most turbulent times of their history. He led the tribe through the removal, rebuilding in Indian Territory, a tribal civil war and the American Civil War. He died in Washington City (Washington D.C.) on Aug. 1, 1866, just after finalizing a treaty with the federal government that preserved a Cherokee government that had sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The graves of almost 120 other survivors of the Trail of Tears have been located in the area, said Mary Tidwell, secretary/treasurer of the Trail of Tears Association, Oklahoma Chapter. Markers will be placed on those graves as funds become available, she said.

Only the graves of those people who were forcibly removed within the 13 detachments in 1838-39 will be marked, Tidwell said. Most of the Cherokees who came to Indian Territory prior to the forced removal did so voluntarily.

The Oklahoma Trail of Tears Association was formed in 1996 to assist in the National Trail of Tears Association’s efforts to identify, develop, manage and promote the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail which commemorates the route used in 1838-39.

The Oklahoma Chapter was the first state chapter formed. Four of the nine states the Cherokee people went through on their way to Indian Territory also have formed their own chapters including Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina, and Georgia. Chapters are in the process of being formed in, Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri.

In 1987, Congress designated two routes taken by the Cherokee people as a National Historic Trail, overseen by the National Park Service. Many local agencies work closely with the park service to develop and mark the trails. Highways follow one of the trails from Charleston, Tenn., to Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The other is a water route from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Fort Gibson, Okla.

The Oklahoma State Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to protecting and promoting the National Trail of Tears Historical Trail.