Wilma Pearl Mankiller
Birthday: 1945
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was the first woman to lead a major Native American tribe in the United States. She served twelve years in elective office at the Cherokee Nation the first two as Deputy Principal Chief followed by ten years as Principal Chief. She retired from public office in 1995. Chief Wilma Mankiller's roots ran deep in the rural community of Mankiller Flats in Adair County Oklahoma where she spent most of her life. Wilma Mankiller was born in 1945 at Hastings Indian Hospital in Tahlequah and grew up with few amenities. At age ten her family moved to San Francisco as part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Relocation Program where she lived for two decades before returning to Oklahoma in 1977. During Wilma Mankiller's leadership at the Cherokee Nation she met with every seated United States President and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton in 1998. She served on several philanthropic boards including twelve years on the board of trustees of the Ford Foundation and several years each on the boards of Ms. Foundation for Women the Seventh Generation Fund and The Freedom Forum. She also served on the board of directors for Merrill Lynch and held more than a dozen honorary doctorates from universities including Yale Dartmouth and Smith College. Wilma Mankiller's life story was recounted in "Mankiller: A Chief and Her People" (St. Martin's Press 1993) which she co-wrote with Michael Wallis. She was also the author and editor of "Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women" (Fulcrum Publishing 2004). Until her death on April 6, 2010, Wilma Mankiller worked tirelessly for the advancement of Indigenous peoples in the US and abroad. "The Cherokee Word for Water" a feature-length movie about her community work in Bell Oklahoma was filmed completely in Tahlequah. Additionally, The Wilma Mankiller Foundation has been established at the Tulsa Community Foundation to honor Chief Mankiller's legacy of social and economic justice in Indian Country. Honors: Presidential Medal of Freedom Montgomery Fellowship Dartmouth College The Chubb Fellowship Humanitarian Award National Conference of Christians and Jews Henry G. Bennett Distinguished Service Award Oklahoma State University San Francisco State University Hall of Fame San Francisco State Alumna of the Year International Women of Distinction Award Alpha Delta Kappa Oklahoma Hall of Fame Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame National Women's Hall of Fame International Women's Forum Hall of Fame National Racial Justice Award Minority Business Hall of Fame Women of the Year Oklahoma Federation of Indian Women Woman of the Year Ms. Magazine Celebration of Heroes Newsweek Cover Story ABC Person of the Week ABC Nightly News John W. Gardner Leadership Award Independent Sector United States Public Health Service Leadership Award The Dorothy Height Lifetime Achievement Award The Elizabeth Blackwell Award Colleges & Universities: Yale Dartmouth Smith Mills Timothy Dwight Drury Northern Arizona Oklahoma City Oklahoma State Tulsa Rhode Island Saint Mary-of-the-Woods New England