Volume 5, No. 1 (Winter 2002) -- Women's History Month Issue

Wilma ManKiller: Chief of the Cherokee Nation
By Bruce Glassman

"If I had another life, I’d spend all my time just on education. I would try to impact the kind of information that Americans get everyday, information about what is essentially every American’s history, the history of our native people."

These are the words of Wilma ManKiller, chief of the Cherokee Nation. Only a small group of people know about this woman. This small group is so privileged to know her, for she is a giant among her people.

Wilma ManKiller is the first woman to be chief of the Cherokees. Becoming chief of the Cherokees was no easy feat for her. The virtues that she possessed such as dedication and a great deal of faith, helped her to win not only the election, but the hearts of the Cherokee people.

Wilma ManKiller has a large responsibility being chief of the Cherokee Nation, but she has also dedicated herself to teaching the world about true Native American culture. Much of her life has been filled with helping her people improve their lives.

Through all her illness, divorce and being frowned upon as a woman in politics, Wilma ManKiller never lost her focus to make a better way of life for Native Americans. She is truly a woman of courage and valor.