Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller, born on November eighteenth, nineteen forty-five, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, was a pioneering Native American activist and the first woman elected as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Her early years were spent on her family's allotment in Adair County until the age of eleven, when her family relocated to San Francisco as part of a federal initiative aimed at urbanizing Indigenous Americans. After completing high school, she married an affluent Ecuadorian and raised two daughters, all while being inspired by the social movements of the 1960s.

Mankiller's activism began with her involvement in the Occupation of Alcatraz and continued through her participation in land and compensation struggles with the Pit River Tribe. In the early seventies, she worked as a social worker, focusing on children's issues, before returning to Oklahoma in nineteen seventy-six. There, she was hired by the Cherokee Nation as an economic stimulus coordinator, where her skills in grant writing led to her directing the newly established Community Development Department by the early eighties.

As Director, Mankiller designed and supervised innovative community projects that empowered rural citizens to address their own challenges. Her work in Bell, Oklahoma, was notably featured in the film The Cherokee Word for Water, which was recognized as the top American Indian film of the past forty years by the American Indian Film Institute. Her project in Kenwood earned the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Certificate of National Merit, showcasing her impactful contributions to the community.

In nineteen eighty-three, Mankiller was invited by the incumbent Principal Chief, Ross Swimmer, to run as his deputy in the tribal elections. Their victory marked her as the first elected woman to serve as Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Following Swimmer's appointment to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, she ascended to the role of Principal Chief, serving until nineteen ninety-five. During her tenure, she oversaw the establishment of health clinics, a mobile eye-care clinic, and various educational and job training programs, while also developing revenue streams for the tribe.

After retiring from politics, Mankiller returned to her activist roots, advocating for the improvement of Native American representation and heritage. She authored several books, including her bestselling autobiography, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People, and delivered lectures on health care, tribal sovereignty, and women's rights. Despite facing serious health challenges throughout her life, including polycystic kidney disease and cancer, she remained a resilient figure until her passing in two thousand ten from pancreatic cancer. Mankiller received numerous accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in twenty twenty-one, it was announced that her likeness would appear on the quarter-dollar coin as part of the United States Mint's 'American Women quarters' program.