Former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Program Title: The Role of Positive Thinking in Native American Life

Wilma Mankiller served for two years as the first female elected deputy chief and ten years as first female principal chief of the 220,000 member Cherokee Nation. Her areas of expertise include community development, public relations, tribal governance, leadership, writing, and the conceptualization and development of an extensive array of projects ranging from basic infrastructure to programs for children and youth.

Mankiller's accomplishments are numerous. She co-chaired a national conference between tribal leaders and cabinet members which helped facilitate the establishment of an Office of Indian Justice within the US Department of Justice. She has met with Presidents Reagan, Bush, Sr., and Clinton at the White House to present critical tribal issues. She helped obtain Congressional appropriation to build an $11 million Job Corps Center in Tahlequah, as well as a homeless shelter for children and youth of all races. Mankiller launched an effort that saved the Cherokee Nation millions of dollars in state taxes, helped lay the groundwork for Cherokee Nation Enterprises, helped put up several rural healthcare facilities, and served as the first director of the Cherokee Nation Community Development Department.

Mankiller has a bachelor's degree in Social Services. She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, the International Women's Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. She has l8 honorary doctorates including one from Yale, Dartmouth, and Smith Colleges, and was a Chubb Fellow at Yale and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth. Mankiller has presented more than l00 lectures at universities and published more than a dozen papers in journals and newspapers.

She is a trustee of the Ford Foundation and the Freedom Forum's Newseum. Her most recent book is entitled Every Day is a Good Day - a set of interviews with 18 indigenous, presenting a genuine Native American perspective. She co-edited A Reader's Companion to the History of Women in the US, and co-authored, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. She is one of a handful of Native American recipients