Wilma Mankiller
Bio
Wilma Mankiller is honored and recognized as the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She is also the first woman elected as chief of a major Native tribe. She spent her remarkable life fighting for the rights of American Indians. She was a consensus builder, working with the federal government to pilot a self-government agreement for the Cherokee Nation and with the Environmental Protection Agency. As the tribe’s leader, she was both the principal guardian of centuries of Cherokee tradition and customs, including legal codes, and chief executive of a tribe with a budget that reached $150 million a year by the end of her tenure. The money included profits from several factories, gaming, hospitality, natural resources, other businesses as well as money from the federal government.
Photo from: FemBio - https://www.fembio.org/english/biography.php/woman/biography/wilma-mankiller/
Reading Materials
Book:
Mankiller Poems: The lost poetry of Wilma Mankiller by Wilma Mankiller
Articles:
