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Wilma Mankiller Biography

Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Pearl Mankiller (November 18, 1945 – April 6, 2010) was a community organizer and the first woman elected to serve as 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 was 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. Mankiller's administration founded the Cherokee Nation Community Development Department and saw a population increase of Cherokee Nation citizens from 55,000 to 156,000.[citation needed]

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Wilma Mankiller Quotes

Take care how you place your moccasins upon the Earth, step with care, for the faces of the future generations are looking up from the Earth waiting their turn for life.

Care, Environmental, Generations, Step, Waiting

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.

Men, Real, Savages, Terms, Thinking, Western

If you argue with a fool, someone passing by will not be able to tell who is the fool and who is not.

Passing By, Able, Fool, Tell, Passing

I hope many of you will be people that question why things are and why we have to do them the way we have always done them. I hope you will take some risks, exert some real leadership on issues, and if you will, dance along the edge of the roof as you continue for life.

Continue, Edge, Issues, People, Real

We must trust our own thinking. Trust where we're going. And get the job done.

Healing, Job, Jobs, Thinking, Trust

Every single person has leadership ability. Some step up and take them. Some don't. My answer was to step up and lead.

Ability, Answers, Lead, Single, Step Up, Steps

I've run into more discrimination as a woman than as an Indian.

Discrimination, Indian, Run, Running

Though many non-Native Americans have learned very little about us, over time we have had to learn everything about them. We watch their films, read their literature, worship in their churches, and attend their schools. Every third-grade student in the United States is presented with the concept of Europeans discovering America as a "New World" with fertile soil, abundant gifts of nature, and glorious mountains and rivers. Only the most enlightened teachers will explain that this world certainly wasn't new to the millions of indigenous people who already lived here when Columbus arrived.

Everything, Fertile, Native American, School, Teacher, Worship

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.

Believe, Challenge, Challenges, Likes, Risk, Sing

People say that crisis changes people and turns ordinary people into wiser or more responsible ones.

Ordinary, People, Responsible, Say, Wiser

In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.

Encouraged, Future, Making, Past, People, Women

Cows run away from the storm while the buffalo charges toward it - and gets through it quicker. Whenever I’m confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment, I become the buffalo.

Inspirational, Native American, Quicker, Run, Running, Tough

It should be remembered that hundreds of people of African ancestry also walked the Trail of Tears with the Cherokee during the forced removal of 1838-1839. Although we know about the terrible human suffering of our native people and the members of other tribes during the removal, we rarely hear of those black people who also suffered.

Ancestry, Black, Hear, People, Suffering

I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves.

Acceptance, Helped, Remembered, Restore, Want

Whoever controls the education of our children controls the future.

Children, Our Children, Education, Future, Controls

We celebrate Thanksgiving along with the rest of America, maybe in different ways and for different reasons. Despite everything that's happened to us since we fed the Pilgrims, we still have our language, our culture, our distinct social system. Even in a nuclear age, we still have a tribal people.

America, Distinct, Happened, Maybe, People, Thanksgiving

Individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward.

Ability, Adversity, Individually, Moving, Teamwork

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

Challenges, Control, Long, Thinking, Time

The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.

Give, Inspirational, Moving On, Secret, Success

Growth is a painful process. 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.

Deal, Growth, Level, Moving, Process, Veils

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