Quick Facts
- NAME: Wilma Mankiller
- OCCUPATION: Women's Rights Activist, Political Leader
- BIRTH DATE: November 18, 1945
- DEATH DATE: April 06, 2010
- EDUCATION: Skyline College, San Francisco State University
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Tahlequah, Oklahoma
- PLACE OF DEATH: Adair County, Oklahoma
- Full Name: Wilma Pearl Mankiller
- AKA: Wilma Mankiller
Best Known For
Wilma Mankiller worked for several years as a leading advocate for the Cherokee people, and became the first woman to serve as their principal chief in 1985.
Quiz
Think you know about Biography?
Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.
Play NowWilma Mankiller. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 08:09, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-mankiller-214109.
Wilma Mankiller. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-mankiller-214109 [Accessed 23 May 2013].
"Wilma Mankiller." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 08:09 http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-mankiller-214109.
"Wilma Mankiller," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-mankiller-214109 [accessed May 23, 2013].
"Wilma Mankiller," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-mankiller-214109 (accessed May 23, 2013).
Wilma Mankiller [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-mankiller-214109.
Wilma Mankiller, http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-mankiller-214109 (last visited May 23, 2013).
Wilma Mankiller. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-mankiller-214109. Accessed May 23, 2013.
After leaving office, she continued her activism on behalf of Native Americans and women. She also taught for a short time at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Mankiller shared her experiences as a pioneer in tribal government in her 1993 autobiography, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. She also wrote and compiled Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women (2004),
Contents
featuring a forward by leading feminist Gloria Steinem. For her leadership and activism, Mankiller received numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.
Wilma Mankiller died on April 6, 2010, at the age of 64, in Adair County, Oklahoma. She was survived by her second husband, Charlie Soap, whom she married in 1986.
After learning of Mankiller's passing in 2010, President Barack Obama issued a statement about legendary Cherokee chief: "As the Cherokee Nation's first female chief, she transformed the nation-to-nation relationship between the Cherokee Nation and the federal government, and served as an inspiration to women in Indian Country and across America," he stated. "Her legacy will continue to encourage and motivate all who carry on her work."
© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.
profile name: Wilma Mankiller profile occupation:
Your Connections
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.
Profile Connections
Included In These Groups
-
Notable Female Leaders
View groupAside from their gender, female leaders don't have much else in common. Some have brought peace to troubled lands, while others have strewn discontent. Some have been competent or brilliant, others inept or corrupt. They come from political positions ranging from arch-conservative to ultra-leftist and represent all the world's religions.
Visit BIO's Women's History group for more lists of the world's most fascinating women!
Notable Female Leaders 28 people in this group
-
Famous Scorpios 506 people in this group
-
Famous Women's Rights Activists
View groupWomen and men have continued the call for full-fledged women’s rights in a number of venues, including voting access, fair treatment in the workplace and reproductive and sexual freedom. Find out more about this eclectic and electric group of global activists who include Shirin Ebadi, Coretta Scott King, Asra Nomani and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Visit Biography.com's Women's History group to explore more biographies, photos and videos of some the world's most fascinating women.
Famous Women's Rights Activists 79 people in this group

June Carter Cash
Musical Monikers
Justin Bieber
My Ghost Story
I Survived
Babe Ruth
Johnny Cash
Georgia O'Keefe
I Survived


