Cherokee Trail of Tears bean memorializes the federal government’s forced removal of the Cherokee tribe from their ancestral homelands of the Southeast to Oklahoma in the 1830s, a tragic and deadly trek that killed more than 6,000 people. People couldn’t carry much, but they did take seeds, including a shiny black bean that came to be known as “Cherokee Trail of Tears.” Dr. John Wyche, a Cherokee tribal member, dentist, and seed saver from Hugo, Oklahoma, gave the beautiful and prolific bean variety to Seed Savers Exchange in the 1970s. His family had stewarded the bean for generations in Oklahoma. Often grown for drying, Cherokee Trail of Tears is also excellent as a green bean.