DIGADOHI: Lands, Cherokee and the Trail of Tears

DIGADOHI means lands in Cherokee and the story of their removal is recorded in the archaeology at places like the Snelson-Brinker farm in Missouri, and in the traditions and family histories of the Cherokee today. July 4th, 2017 the historic Snelson-Brinker cabin was burnt to the ground. A witness site to ethnic cleansing, the farm is one of the few sites on the Trail of Tears to be studied. Using cutting edge archaeological methods, STEM, and archival research, a group of community activists and Cherokee leaders work to rescue a historic property from the arsonist's flames and identify the graves of the Cherokee who died there.
Filming for DIGADOHI began in November of 2017 at archaeological and historic sites along the route from Cherokee homelands in the East, to Oklahoma.
The film chronicles a year of those investigations and weaves the family stories - European, African, and Native - that were unearthed there into the national story of America. Producer and Director Monty Dobson, an archaeologist and documentary filmmaker points to the role of archaeology in helping discover little known or lost histories. According to Dobson:
“Archaeology tells us a local story, one site, one hole, one shovel at a time. But each site is in turn part of a larger history of place. And at sites along the Trail of Tears, including those here in Missouri, you have prehistoric Native stories, European settlers, the African American experience of slavery, all coming together in one place. That's the story of America, and the shared landscape of our history ties us together in profound ways.”