Chief Wilma Mankiller – Icon and Advocate of the Cherokee Nation

Chief Wilma Mankiller: Icon and Advocate of the Cherokee Nation

By: Jeremy Valdes-Riccardi

     Throughout her tenure as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller dedicated her career to the advocacy, preservation, and prosperity of her people. Her call to action for the recognition of the inherent sovereign rights of indigenous people throughout North America garnered much respect and attention from world leaders and through her efforts served to create awareness and advocacy for Native Americans living today.

     Born on November 18^th, 1945 as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Mankiller cemented her place in American history by becoming the first female elected chieftain of a major Native American tribe serving from 1985 to 1995. Notably, her achievements include advocating for the preservation of Cherokee lands and sovereignty, improving healthcare and education on reservations, and being credited with more than doubling tribal enrollment throughout her ten year service as Principal Chieftain.

     In her 2008 “Leading Native Nations” interview with the renowned Native Nations Institute (NNI), Mankiller stressed the importance of local community involvement, both Native and non-native, and how in order to help build Native communities up in a positive light the essential ground works to thrive must be laid in the active and conceptualized understanding of the culture, heritage, and community that one is fighting for.

     “The basic work first, I think, is working with people and making sure that people trust their own thinking first and have a strong sense of self-efficacy and believe in themselves,” explained Mankiller. “Once they believe in themselves and have that strong sense then they can do anything.”

     

Wilma Mankiller receiving the Presidential Medal of Honor

     During her service as Principal Chieftain, and throughout the rest of her life, Mankiller’s accolades and dedication to the advancement of indigenous communities earned her much respect as a leader and advocate of her people and community, and eventually led to her receiving the Presidential Medal of Honor in 1998.

     

     Mankiller’s vision of rebuilding Native nations and equipping those communities with the tools necessary to thrive is a testament to her life as a leader, voice, and icon of the Cherokee Nation and would inspire countless generations, Native and non-native, to advocate for the advancement of indigenous people by understanding the history and direction of Native American Communities. “If they want to see our future they just simply need to look at our past to believe in ourselves, to believe in our intellectual ability, to believe in our skills, to believe in our ability to think up solutions to our own problems,” explained Mankiller. “I think that is critical to our survival."

Mankiller standing in front of the seal of the
Cherokee Nation

     Wilma Mankiller continued to fight for the advancement of the Cherokee Nation and other indigenous tribes throughout North America until her death on April 6^th, 2010. She left behind a legacy of activism and the desire for a positive society in which the contributions of Native Americans are not only acknowledged but celebrated. Her legacy is a testament to the endurance of the human spirit and a reminder to all that in order to garner the recognition one feels they deserve, a person must be willing to take a stand and lead the path for others to follow in order to truly change the world and ensure that the mistakes of the past are learned from and never repeated.

Sources:

"Wilma Mankiller: Governance, Leadership and the Cherokee Nation." Indigenous Governance Database. https://nnidatabase.org/video/wilma-mankiller-governance-leadership-and-cherokee-nation.

"Wilma Mankiller, the Inspiring First Woman Cherokee Chief.". http://www.aauw.org/2013/11/20/wilma-mankiller/.