Midway through the Great Irish Famine ( 1845 – 1849 ) , a group of Choctaws collected $ 710 ( $ in current dollar terms ) ( although many articles say the original amount was $ 170 ( $ ) after a misprint in Angie Debo 's '' The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic '' ) and sent it to help starving Irish men , women and children . " It had been just 16 years since the Choctaw people had experienced the Trail of Tears , and they had faced starvation … It was an amazing gesture . By today 's standards , it might be a million dollars , " according to Judy Allen , editor of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma 's newspaper , '' Bishinik '' . The paper is based at the Oklahoma Choctaw tribal headquarters in Durant , Okla . To mark the 150th anniversary , eight Irish people retraced the Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma