Written by Nneka Iweanya Published March 6, 2026 Focus Keywords:Native American slavery, Antebellum South, Indian Removal Act, Cherokee slavery, Trail of Tears, Colonialism and slavery How European Expansion Reshaped Indigenous Captivity Into Race-based Chattel Slavery In the early nineteenth century, enslaved African Americans walked westward on the Trail of Tears alongside their Native American enslavers. … Continue reading When Native Nations Owned Slaves: The Complicated History of the Antebellum South