Fort Worth, Texas-Caroline Rowland is proud of her Choctaw heritage and knows the history of her tribe. She's also a criminal justice major and history and writing double minor at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas. During a recent U.S. history class, when the Trail of Tears was only briefly discussed, she was confused and even a little upset.

Rowland says she was trying not to get angry, and that's when she realized that maybe it was a resource issue.

"Growing up, that was just part of who I was, and it's a large part of Oklahoma history," said Rowland. She realized that it...