Wilma Mankiller (1945-2010): First Female Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Wilma Mankiller. Source: Tulsa World.
Wilma Mankiller, the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation, led a life in service to the Cherokee Nation and left a timeless and exemplary legacy for indigenous activism and female empowerment.
Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on November 18, 1945, Wilma was the sixth out of eleven children born to Charley Mankiller and Clara Irene Sitton. Her last name, “Mankiller” refers to a traditional Cherokee military rank, equivalent to a captain or major in the U.S. Military.
Growing up, Wilma recounted her experiences living without electricity, indoor plumbing, or telephones. [1] At age 11, Wilma and her family moved to San Francisco, California as part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ relocation policy, which sought to move Indigenous peoples off federally subsidized lands with the promise of job opportunities in larger cities. [2] Her father, Charley, became union worker and in a 1993 New York Times article, Wilma described this move as her “own little Trail of Tears.” [3] Almost a century prior to this, Charley Mankiller’s ancestors had been forced to relocate from Tennessee to Indian Territory on the Trail of Tears in the 1830’s. [4] During her time as a young girl living in California, Wilma would begin her life of activism and service.
An event which profoundly impacted Wilma’s life and social activism was in 1969 when a group of Native Americans occupied the federal prison, Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay to expose the hardships of Native Americans. This movement of indigenous people onto the island of Alcatraz highlighted the forced relocation of Native Americans onto reservations which were a fraction of their original homelands [5]. Wilma’s involvement in the Alcatraz movement inspired her to pursue a life of social activism and service to indigenous communities and people.
Wilma began serving as the director of Oakland, California’s Native American Youth Center. Her time spent working with young children was centered around preserving and teaching Native American culture and taking pride in indigenous history. During this time Wilma learned a critical skill which would greatly impact her later work in politics and tribal leadership: learning practical applications for exercising tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. [6]
In 1977, Wilma was a single mother of two children living out of her car in Oklahoma. Although she found it difficult to reconnect with her Cherokee community, she eventually got a job working for the Cherokee Nation as an economic stimulus coordinator and she would later find the Cherokee Nation’s Community Development Department. [7] She began her work for the Community Development Department with a project in Bell, Oklahoma, a small Cherokee community with no running water or electricity. [8] Despite the hardships this community faced, under Mankiller’s leadership, she provided the community with a 16 mile waterline.
Wilma’s dedication to Cherokee communities earned her the honorable position as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She was the first and only women to hold this high office. Her achievements as Chief of the Cherokee Nation were profound, including job creation, increased access to health care, and cultural revitalization. [9] Her leadership and dedication to the Cherokee people earned her Ms Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 1987, induction into the Women’s National Hall of Fame in 1993, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 by President Bill Clinton.
Blog by Kate Hodgson
References:
Brando, Elizabeth “Wilma Mankiller.” National Women’s History Museum. 2021. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/wilma-mankiller.
“Guide: The Life of Wilma Mankiller, First Woman to Serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation,” National Trust for Historic Preservation, https://savingplaces.org/guides/wilma-mankiller-first-woman-principal-chief-cherokee-nation.
Sam Howe Verhovek, “Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Chief and First Woman to Lead Major Tribe, Is Dead at 64,” New York Times, April 6, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/us/07mankiller.html.
Olivia Riggio, “Women’s History Month Profiles: Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Nation Chief,” DiversityInc, March 15, 2021, https://www.diversityinc.com/womens-history-month-profiles-wilma-mankiller-cherokee-nation-chief/.