
Wilma Mankiller
Cherokee principal chief
When her family moved off her father's ancestral land in Oklahoma through a federal relocation program, Wilma Mankiller never dreamed she would one day return as the chief of her people.
Through her abiding faith in the tenacity of her tribe and eternal optimism in the face of staggering challenges, she rose through the ranks. Wilma became the 1st woman to hold the top seat in the Cherokee government ~ in spite of deep-seeded sexism. Her well-loved administration so improved indigenous lives that citizenship in the Nation tripled under her watch.
Wilma's belief in rebuilding communities through shared + self-directed work toward a common good is a legacy worth carrying on in all nations.
visionary leadership | the 1st female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
"indigenous solutions" | working with specific communities to listen to their needs and help them develop local solutions {in what she and her husband called a "self-help movement"}
healing + rebuilding | focusing on healthcare, education and community development to better serve + grow tribal membership
overcoming | poverty, government oppression + sexism ~ not to mention a debilitating car crash and several serious health issues
1969 | supported the American Indian Movement's occupation of Alcatraz, which started her on a path of public service to her people and activism for indigenous rights
1983 | elected as deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation, taking over the principal post when Chief Ross Swimmer left to take a leading role in the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs
1991 | re-elected for a 2nd term as principal chief in a landslide victory in which she won 83% of the votes
from | to
a girl raised in a San Francisco project disconnected from her culture | a trailblazing chief of her people + leader in the global Indigenous Rights movement
born on
November 18, 1945
born in
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
birth name
Wilma Pearl Mankiller
~ her surname refers to a Cherokee military rank ~
nickname | also known as
Chief
Ms. Chief {Mis-chief}
citizen of
The Cherokee Nation
daughter of
Charley Mankiller + Clara Irene Sutton
sister of
10 siblings
grew up in | lives in
San Francisco, California
~ due to a US Bureau of Indian Affairs relocation program aimed at acculturating and urbanizing Native Americans ~
~ Wilma said that the community was "flatteringly" referred to as "Harlem West" ~
educated at
Skyline College
~ San Francisco, California ~
San Francisco State University
Flaming Rainbow University
~ Stilwell, Oklahoma | BA in social science ~
University of Arkansas
~ Fayetteville, Arkansas | grad work ~
loved studying
social sciences
social work
community planning
divorced from
Hector Hugo Olaya de Bardi
~ a student from Equador, married 1963 - 1977 ~
married to
Charlie Lee Soap
~ from 1986 until her death in 2010 ~
mother of
2 daughters | Felicia + Gina Olaya
grandmother of
4 grandchildren
advocate for | influenced by
human rights
environmentalism + conservation
American Indian Self-Determination
Nation-to-Nation Relations
Community Development
Grassroots Community Organizing + Activism
The American Indian Movement
died on
April 6, 2010
~ at her home in Adair County, Oklahoma near her ancestral land, Mankiller Flats ~
"Women can help turn the world right side up. We bring a more collaborative approach to government. And if we do not participate, then the decisions will be made without us."
Mankiller: A Chief and Her People | 1993
"I'm sure there's some yuppie somewhere still wondering what I did to earn my last name."
Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation | april 1993
"Poor people have a much, much greater capacity for solving their own problems than most people given them credit for."
Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation | april 1993
"I thought that the idea that gender had anything to do with leadership, or that leadership had anything to do with gender was foolish, and I could see no point in even beginning to try to debate that non-issue with anybody."
Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation | april 1993
"I didn't have the faith in myself to speak up, and what caused me to have the faith in myself to speak up was that my desire to do something and contribute was stronger than my own fear."
Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation | april 1993
"One of the most powerful countries in the world as a policy first tried to wipe us off the face of the earth. And then, failing that, instituted a number of policies to make sure that we didn't exist...as a culturally distinct group of people, and yet here we are. Not only do we exist, but we're thriving and we're growing, and we're learning now to trust our own thinking again and dig our way out. So it was that tenacity that I felt we could build on."
Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation | april 1993
"Negative thoughts were treated by Cherokee healers with the same medicines as wounds, headaches, or physical illness. It was believed that unchecked negative thoughts can permeate the being and manifest themselves in negative actions."
Every Day Is a Good Day | 2004
"Protecting the earth is not an intellectual exercise, it's a sacred duty."
Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People | october 2008
"Within many communities, the most respected are not those who've amassed great material wealth or achieved great personal success; the greatest respect is reserved for those who help other people, those who understand that their lives play themselves out within a set of reciprocal relationships."
Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People | october 2008
"Indigenous leaders are now beginning to understand that there’s a direct link between public perception and public policies, and that they’ve got to frame their own issues in the public. If indigenous people don’t frame the issues for themselves, their opponents most certainly will."
Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People | october 2008
"One of the most common misperceptions about indigenous people is that we’re all the same."
Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People | october 2008
"Perhaps in the future, indigenous people who have an abiding and deeply held belief that all living things are related and interdependent, can help policymakers understand how completely irrational it is to destroy the very natural world that sustains them."
Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People | october 2008
"Land and resources can be colonized and have been colonized, but dreams can never be colonized."
Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People | october 2008
"The most fulfilled people are those who get up every morning and stand for something larger than themselves."
Northeastern State University commencement address | may 2009
for further reading about Wilma Mankiller:
curated with care by Alicia Williamson {september 2014}
First Woman Chief of an American Indian Nation
Wilma served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985 - 1995. Her administration ushered in improvements to healthcare, education and the foundation of the Cherokee Nation Community Development Department, leading to a ground swell in the tribal population from 55,000 to 150,000.
US Department of State
Public domain
Wilma honored by AAUW
The American Association of University Women gave Wilma top honors in 1993 in recognition of her work with and for the Cherokee Nation. Wilma's work as a community organizer + elected official was widely recognized with other humanitarian awards, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom given to her by President Bill Clinton.
AAUW Archives
© all rights reserved
Remembering Wilma Mankiller
A brief tribute to the beloved Chief from Oklahoma who died from pancreatic cancer in 2010 after surviving breast cancer, lymphoma and a kidney transplant. More than 1000 people attended her memorial service at the Cherokee National Cultural Grounds.
Nickolai Hammar