Wilma Mankiller

The late Wilma Mankiller (1945-2010) was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. In 1985, she became the first female ever elected as Principal Chief of her nation. She subsequently won two elections as her nation’s chief executive, the second with 82% of the vote, before leaving office in 1995. During her tenure, she played an instrumental role in the Cherokee Nation’s historic self-determination agreement with the federal government, in which the nation took control of nation programs and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1999, Mankiller published the national best-seller Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. She was a member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the International Women’s Hall of Fame, the Minority Business Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. In 1998, then-President Bill Clinton awarded Wilma the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.