KEEPING INDIAN LEGEND ALIVE

Friedrich studies one of his many maps of the Trail of Tears, the trail the Cherokee Indian tribe followed after they were forced from their land. Thanks to Friedrichs and his friends, the Trail will soon be a nationally recognized historical trial.

Bob Friedrich loves to talk about Indians, although he's not one himself.

And he calls them just that, Indians, opting to not use the more politically correct term Native American.

He explains by asking what an Indian friend of his once asked him: "What the hell is a Native American? Anyone born in America is a Native American."

Friedrich's friend told him proudly: "I'm a American Indian."

Friedrich, a Jackson resident for all of his 61 years except for his brief stint in the Army, said he's been interested in Indians all his life.

"It's kind of like a murder mystery," he said. "You're trying to solve what actually happened. Who came from where and which route did they take? You really get involved with it."

Friedrich, an electrician with less than 8 months until he retires, does more than talk though; he's taken action, as well.

Friedrich is a Missouri representative of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Advisory Council.

The Trail of Tears is the route that the Cherokee Indians traveled after being forced from their land by the U.S. government.

The Council's purpose is to make the Trail of Tears a nationally recognized trail, with signs and information centers marking the way.

Thanks to Friedrich and the Council, that will be a reality soon. The state will set up markers along the trail itself, with an auto tour route and an historic route, beginning in Tennessee and ending in Oklahoma.

"There was a lot of red tape in this kind of thing," Friedrich said. "But we were going to have our trail."

Locally, the trail will be highway 61 between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, highway 72 out to Fredricktown continuing up through Farmington to Potosi.

Friedrich said the trail markers should be in place by later this year or early next year.

"This trail is a memento, not only to the Cherokee, but to all the tribes that were forcefully moved," Friedrich said.

The trail is more than a hobby to Friedrich since it runs right through his front yard.

Friedrich lives on Greensferry Road, one of the original roads on the Trail of Tears.

"It was one of the old trails that the Indians followed and later the white settlers followed them," Friedrich said. "My grandfather heard all the stories about the Indians that came down our street."

Friedrich said the trail may bring a painful realization to some, though.

"Most people are proud of their ancestors," Friedrich said. "But the white people of this country wouldn't be too proud if they knew exactly what we did to the American Indians."

Bosnia is a hot topic these days, Friedrich said, and people are always talking about what Hitler did to the Jews.

"But this country was doing that to the Indians until shortly before World War II," Friedrich said. "We've done an ethic cleansing of our own."

Friedrich tells the story of Red Cloud, an Indian who said that the white men made many promises to them but only kept one.

"The white man said he would take our land," Red Cloud is to have said, "and he did."

Friedrich said there's more to his interest in Indians than one might think. He has a deep-rooted respect for them and their culture.

"They had no crime," Friedrich said. "And they had hardly no disease. It was the white man that brought most of those. The Indians didn't even know what a common cold was.

"They really had an almost perfect society."

Friedrich is also a member of the Trail of Tears Association, an off-shoot of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Advisory Council. Anyone interested in joining the former organization, can do so by contacting Friedrich at 243-4433.