Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Pearl Mankillerwas the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation. A liberal member of the Democratic Party, she served as principal chief for ten years from 1985 to 1995. She is the author of a national-bestselling autobiography, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People and co-authored Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women...
NationalityCherokee
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth18 November 1945
CityTahlequah, OK
thinking long challenges
I learned a long time ago that I can't control the challenges the creator sends my way, but I can control the way I think about them and deal with them
grateful thinking parent
One of the things my parents taught me, and I'll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me; that for me to define myself . . . and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.
thinking america long
America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking.
real men thinking
Western movies always seemed to show Indian women washing clothes at the creek and men with a tomahawk or spear in their hands, adorned with lots of feathers. That image has stayed in some people's minds. Many think we're either visionaries, `noble savages,' squaw drudges or tragic alcoholics. We're very rarely depicted as real people who have greater tenacity in terms of trying to hang on to our culture and values system than most people.
jobs thinking done
We must trust our own thinking. Trust where we're going. And get the job done.
future reality thinking
I think the most important issue we have as a people is what we started, and that is to begin to trust our own thinking again and belive in ourselves enough to think that we can articulate our own vision of the future and then work to make sure that that vision becomes a reality.
children educational thinking
I don't think anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future.
believe cherokee critical daunting good positive problems today
We've had daunting problems in many critical areas, but I believe in the old Cherokee injunction to "be of a good mind." Today it's called positive thinking.
almost capacity community credit experience greater learned living oklahoma people poor problems solving
But what I learned from my experience in living in a community of almost all African-American people, and what I learned from my experience in living in my own community in Oklahoma before the relocation is that poor people have a much, much greater capacity for solving their own problems than most people give them credit for.
begin deal human move problems veil
If we're ever going to collectively begin to grapple with the problems that we have collectively, we're going to have to move back the veil and deal with each other on a more human level.
begin bit factors historical issues played understand
There are a whole lot of historical factors that have played a part in our being where we are today, and I think that to even to begin to understand our contemporary issues and contemporary problems, you have to understand a little bit about that history.
job medium small social
She likened her job to "running a small country, a medium corporation, and being a social worker.
knew time
I had no job, very little money, no car, had no idea what I was going to do, but knew it was time to go home.
believe challenges risk
Friends describe me as someone who likes to sing and dance along the edge of the roof. I try to encourage young women to be willing to take risks, to stand up for the things they believe in, and to step up and accept the challenge of serving in leadership roles.