Sonoma State University presents Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Mankiller was the first female Principle Chief of the
Cherokee nation of Oklahoma. Through the experiences of her childhood living
away from the reservation in San Francisco and the awakening of the Indian
rights movement of the 60’s and 70’s she became politically involved in the
plight of Native Americans. Upon returning to the Cherokee Reservation in Oklahoma
and working as a community coordinator for the tribe she was asked by then
chief Ross Swimmer to run as deputy chief. She became principle chief when he
was nominated to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC. She
served 3 consecutive 4 year terms as chief and would have run again for the
position had not her health been poor. She passed away in 2010 from pancreatic
cancer.
Her speech at Sonoma State University (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVLgwpHSYv0)
should be required viewing for high school students studying American history
as she discusses the sovereignty and structure of tribal governments and the
role of women in those governments. She correctly describes how tribes have
lost the ability to sustain themselves due to the enormous amount of land that
was ceded to the United States through treaties or otherwise taken from them,
leaving little or no natural resources to build an economy on.
Wilma expounds on the fact that most Americans have no understanding
of who modern Native Americans are or what their culture is like. Her story of
the non-native visitor to a tribal village asking where all the Indians were
and getting the response “Probably at K-Mart” spoke volumes about the mistaken
perceptions Native Americans. She is passionate about the need within the
tribal structure to preserve the stories that recount tribal history and
culture that have been handed down verbally from generation to generation and
are being lost when elders pass on.
What stands out is the role model that Wilma Mankiller was
and is, not only to Native Americans but to women of all cultural heritages.
She was a strong and determined leader who was not afraid to see the positive
aspect of any situation or crisis and to look to the past for solutions while
showing compassion and concern for maintaining Native American culture and
traditional values. Her example is a guidebook for the continued emergence of
Native Americans as respected and revered members of American culture.
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