A warrior [View all]
What other word is there for a survivor of myasthenia gravis, a kidney transplant, breast cancer, and lymphoma? She died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 64. "Prior to my election," said Wilma Mankiller, "young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief."
Over the course of her three terms, Mankiller reinvigorated the Cherokee Nation through community-development projects where men and women work collectively for the common good. At the time she became chief, the Cherokee Nation leadership was male-dominated. Such a structure contrasted with the traditional Cherokee culture and value system, which tended to include both sexes in leadership positions, though in somewhat different capacities. Her 1991 landslide re-election gathered 83% of the vote. She was dedicated to education and health care. Long before anyone thought to Occupy Wall Street, Wilma Mankiller participated in occupying the island of Alcatraz. During her tenure as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation the grew to more than triple in size. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton in 1998.
The Wilma Mankiller Scholarship Fund has been organized to provide leadership development opportunities for Native women everywhere.
http://www.examiner.com/article/wilma-mankiller-passes
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