Wilma Mankiller
| Wilma Mankiller | |
|---|---|
Mankiller in 2001
|
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| Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation | |
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In office 1985–1995 |
|
| Preceded by | Ross Swimmer |
| Succeeded by | Joe Byrd |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Wilma Pearl Mankiller November 18, 1945 Tahlequah, Oklahoma, United States |
| Died | April 6, 2010 (aged 64) Adair County, Oklahoma, United States |
| Cause of death | Pancreatic cancer |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
Hector Hugo Olaya de Bardi (m. 1963–77) Charlie Soap (m. 1986) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Skyline College, San Francisco State University |
| Occupation | Writer, author, tribal chief |
Wilma Pearl Mankiller (November 18, 1945 – April 6, 2010) was 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.
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.
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the sixth of eleven children, to Charley Mankiller (November 15, 1914 – February 20, 1971) and Clara Irene Sitton (September 18, 1921 – January 12, 2016). Her father was a full-blooded Cherokee and her mother was a Caucasian woman of Dutch and Irish descent who acculturated herself to Cherokee life.
The family surname, Mankiller, refers to a traditional Cherokee military rank; it is Asgaya-dihi (Cherokee syllabary: ᎠᏍᎦᏯᏗᎯ) in the Cherokee language. Alternative spellings are Outacity or Outacite.
The Mankiller family was destitute, and initially resided on Charley’s allotment lands of Mankiller Flats near Rocky Mountain, Oklahoma. In 1942, during World War II, the United States Army exercised eminent domain for military purposes and took over the land of 45 Cherokee families, including the Mankillers, in order to expand Camp Gruber. The Mankillers willingly left Oklahoma under the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Indian Relocation Program. The family relocated to San Francisco in 1956, and later settled in Daly City.
In 1963, at the age of 17, Mankiller married Hector Hugo Olaya de Bardi, an Ecuadorian college student. They moved to Oakland and had two daughters, Felicia Olaya, born in 1964, and Gina Olaya, born in 1966.
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