2018 – Government

Wilma Mankiller was a Native American activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. 

Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Mankiller lived on her family’s allotment in Adair, Oklahoma, until the age of 11, when her family relocated to San Francisco as part of the federal government’s “Relocation†program to urbanize Native Americans. Inspired by the social and political movements of the 1960s, Mankiller became involved in the Occupation of Alcatraz.

 Incumbent Cherokee Nation Principal Chief, Ross Swimmer, invited her to run as his deputy in the 1983 tribal elections. When the duo won, she became the first elected woman to serve as Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation. In 1985, when Swimmer took a position in the federal administration of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, she was elevated to Principal Chief. In 1987, and again in 1991, Mankiller was elected as the Cherokee Nation’s Principal Chief, in her own right. 

When she retired from politics, Mankiller returned to her activist role as an advocate working to improve the image of Native Americans and combat the misappropriation of native heritage, by authoring books including a bestselling autobiography, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People, and giving numerous lectures on health care, tribal sovereignty, women’s rights and cancer awareness. She died in 2010 from pancreatic cancer, and was honored with many local, state and national awards, including the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.