Women's History Month: Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Mankiller
(2012.201.B0381.0403, Oklahoma Publishing Company Photography Collection, OHS).
Sept. 19, 1996 file photo, Wilma Mankiller, former Cherokee Nation chief, speaks during a news conference in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
A true trailblazer for women, Wilma Mankiller was a political activist for Indigenous peoples who became the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Wilma was half Cherokee on her father’s side and was born in rural Oklahoma. Her family relocated for better economic opportunities, so she spent the majority of her adolescence in the California Bay Area.
In California, Wilma first became involved in activism after witnessing a demonstration by Indigenous activists at Alcatraz in 1969. The incident prompted Wilma to become more interested in becoming more educated about the treatment and inequalities experienced by Indigenous peoples in America.
In 1977, she and her two daughters relocated back to Oklahoma, where Mankiller’s drive to become more involved in activism led her to the small town of Bell. There, she launched several projects to improve the living conditions and water quality of the small reservation community. Her involvement in these projects garnered her a large platform and much respect throughout the Cherokee community. In 1983 she became the first deputy principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation and took over when the Principal Chief resigned in 1985. In 1987, despite much opposition which included vandalism and death threats, Wilma became the first formally elected female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. While Wilma died in 2010 from pancreatic cancer, her legacy and impact live on, her work an essential precedent for not only indigenous women but all women.
Article by Regan Lenihan
References
Tyler, Ray. Wilma Mankiller (1945 - 2010). National Women’s History Museum (web). https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/wilma-mankiller#:~:text=Wilma%20Mankiller%20is%20often%20remembered,with%20activism%20from%20the%20beginning.&text=Wilma%20was%20the%20sixth%20of,%2C%20on%20November%2018%2C%201945. 2018.