During the 19th century , thousands of Native Americans were expelled from their ancestral homelands from across North America and transported to the area including and surrounding present-day Oklahoma . The Choctaw was the first of the Five Civilized Tribes to be removed from the Southeastern United States . The phrase " Trail of Tears " originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831 , although the term is usually used for the Cherokee removal
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Oklahoma