Former Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller dies

Tulsa World ^ | April 6, 2010 | Staff Reports

[EveningStar]

Wilma Mankiller, the once dirt-poor Oklahoma farm girl who grew up to become an American Indian and women’s rights activist, author and the first woman to hold the Cherokee Nation’s highest office, died Tuesday. She was 64.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Hall & Oates had a great tribute song to her.

That’s ManEATER. Wilma Maneater was Chief of some tribe of headhunters in Papua-New Guinea.

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

We should not print full article without permission of the site or author.

Well, there's a real easy way for Free Republic to set that policy into effect -- they just dispense with the thread that specifies the excerpts -- and just make it a mandatory requirement for all posting... that's all that has to be done. It's part of the algorithm there in the posting page, when you post.

You would know that if you ever missed an article that was supposed to be excerpted or perhaps "link only" as it's already in the algorithm here. That will stop you from posting a thread that way, if you miss it.

And by the way, I regularly post Tulsa World articles that are by the Staff and/or local reporter. I don't do that for AP articles that show up in the Tulsa World, though, as they have their own requirements.

I also use many other news sources that don't have those requirements, either. And it's much more than someone not wanting to click on a link. It's that the link disappears after a while, when the website updates the stories and you completely lose the story. You have "no information" then, for any future readers. This is a way to keep the "information" archived so that future readers can see it. I've got articles from years back, that are no longer on the link, but they are included on Free Republic and provide good "resource material" for future reference and proof and future discussion.

[Star Traveler]

And here's a link to the other FReeper article on it ... :-)

Former Cherokee Nation chief Wilma Mankiller dies

[Star Traveler]

NSU Mourns Passing of Wilma Mankiller

Posted 04/06/10 1:29 pm
Producer: Kevin King

Wilma Mankiller receives an honorary doctorate from Northeastern State University President Don Betz in May 2009.

Tahlequah - (from NSU press release)

Northeastern State University mourns the passing today of Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and NSU’s first Sequoyah Fellow. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early March.

A memorial service has been scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Cherokee Nation Cultural Grounds in Tahlequah.

Dr. Don Betz, NSU president, described Mankiller as a personal friend and a mentor to many, and one who brought joy to the lives of others.

“We are so blessed to have had the privilege to work alongside Wilma Mankiller as part of the NSU community. Her contributions as an advocate for Native American and indigenous peoples worldwide, and her commitment to the role of women in leadership, will continue to inspire individuals in all walks of life and have impact beyond our lifetimes,” Betz said.

Mankiller, whose association with NSU extends to the early 1980s, was named the university’s first Sequoyah Fellow last fall. She was committed to helping NSU become a gathering place for indigenous peoples from around the world and expressed a desire to see the university establish a global presence through indigenous studies.

The recipient of numerous honors and honorary degrees, she was one of only a handful of American Indians to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Bill Clinton. Mankiller was also awarded the NSU President’s Award for Community Service during the NSU Foundation’s 2008 Emerald Ball.

At Northeastern’s 2009 spring commencement ceremony, Betz presented Mankiller with an NSU honorary doctorate and called her “a celebration of self-reliance, interdependence, collaboration, and service.”

“Wilma Mankiller is a woman of extraordinary accomplishments,” he told graduates. “She reflects in all that she does a belief that we are truly here to make a difference.”

In delivering the commencement address, Mankiller conveyed an enduring sense of optimism that was her driving force as she struggled with health issues much of her adult life.

“Optimistic, hopeful people view barriers and obstacles as problems to be solved and not as the reason to give up or turn back,” she said. “Positive people never, ever give up.”

Individuals who are the most fulfilled look for opportunities to find solutions and help others. “The happiest people I’ve ever met, regardless of their profession, their social standing, or their economic status, are people that are fully engaged in the world around them. The most fulfilled people are those who get up every morning and stand for something larger than themselves. They are people who care about others, people who will extend a helping hand to someone in need or will speak up about an injustice when they see it,” Wilma said.

Mankiller’s commitment to leadership and service earned her a place in American history before the age of 40, when she was appointed first female chief of a Native American tribe. Her legacy extends beyond governance to a litany of projects she has championed through the years. Awareness of health care and creation of social services, along with community revitalization and economic self-sufficiency, have characterized her work for more than three decades.

Betz, whose friendship with Mankiller began in the early 1980s, has long attributed to her “a clear sense of why we’re here.”

“Wilma Mankiller understood incredibly well, and was pragmatic in conveying to others, that we must be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper in the context of self help and reciprocity. She modeled the way for leaders both within the Cherokee Nation and around the globe.”

As a former principal chief, Mankiller has been a world renown spokesperson on Native American issues and an advocate for women’s rights.

“Prior to my election,” she has been quoted as saying, “young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.”

Mankiller became the first female elected deputy chief and principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in the 1980s. A native of Adair County, she moved with her family at the age of 11 to California, under the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Indian Relocation Program. In 1977, she returned to Oklahoma and took a job as a tribal planner and program developer. Her ambition to be of service to Cherokee people was realized when Ross Swimmer, then Cherokee Nation principal chief, called upon her and husband Charlie Soap to revitalize traditional Cherokee communities.

Success garnered Mankiller national attention as an expert on community development. In 1983, Swimmer convinced her to run as deputy chief in what would become his successful bid for a third term as principal chief. When he resigned two years later to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Mankiller succeeded him as principal chief, and was re-elected in 1987 and 1991.

As a tribal leader she emphasized gender equality, economic self-sufficiency, and was an advocate for education, spearheading the revitalization of Sequoyah High School. The Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center in her native Stilwell is a tribute to her commitment to health care issues.

“We live in a world in which we are all interdependent and bear some responsibility for one another,” Mankiller said in December 2008. “While the issues we care about may differ, we all can find some worthwhile community effort to become involved with.”

With decades of successes, a multitude of national and international honors, and worldwide recognition as a noted author, Mankiller was “remarkably humble about her accomplishments,” Betz said.

“For generations not yet born, the impact of Wilma Mankiller’s work and her influence around the globe will shape the world they inherit,” Betz said. “It is hard today for us to measure how she made a difference in this world, because she has touched so many lives in many ways.”

[EveningStar]

Well, there's a real easy way for Free Republic to set that policy into effect -- they just dispense with the thread that specifies the excerpts -- and just make it a mandatory requirement for all posting... that's all that has to be done.

I think that would be in Free Republic's best interests to do so. I also think it would be legally and morally proper.

And it's much more than someone not wanting to click on a link. It's that the link disappears after a while, when the website updates the stories and you completely lose the story. You have "no information" then, for any future readers. This is a way to keep the "information" archived so that future readers can see it. I've got articles from years back, that are no longer on the link, but they are included on Free Republic and provide good "resource material" for future reference and proof and future discussion.

I sympathize totally. However, Free Republic has not secured the rights to become such an archive.

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

I think that would be in Free Republic's best interests to do so. I also think it would be legally and morally proper.

I'm sure we'll all be notified if that comes about ...

---

I sympathize totally. However, Free Republic has not secured the rights to become such an archive.

Free Republic already is... :-)

[Star Traveler]

Wilma Mankiller

This article is about a person who has recently died. Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death and surrounding events, may change as more facts become known.

Wilma Pearl Mankiller (November 18, 1945 - April 6, 2010) was the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She served as the Principal Chief for ten years from 1985 to 1995.

Early life

Wilma Mankiller was the sixth of eleven children.^[1] Her parents were Charley Mankiller (November 15, 1914 - 1971)^[2][3] and Clara Irene Sitton (born September 18, 1921). Sitton is of Dutch and Irish descent and had no Cherokee blood, but acculturated to Cherokee life.^[4]

The family surname, Mankiller, is a traditional Cherokee military rank and is Asgaya-dihi in Cherokee,^[5] which is alternatively spelled Outacity^[6] or Outacite.

The Mankiller family lived on Charley’s allotment lands of Mankiller Flats near Rocky Mountain, Oklahoma.^[7] In 1942 the US Army declared 45 Cherokee families’ allotment lands, near those of Mankiller’s family, in order to expand Camp Gruber.^[8] The Mankillers willingly left under the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Indian Relocation Program. They moved to San Francisco, California in 1956 and later Daly City.^[9]

In 1963, at the age of 17, Mankiller married Hector Hugo Olaya de Bardi, an Ecuadorian college student.^[10] They moved to Oakland and had two daughters, Felicia Olaya, born in 1964, and Gina Olaya, born in 1966.^[11]

Mankiller returned to school, first at Skyline College, and then San Francisco State University.^[12] She had been very involved in San Francisco’s Indian Center throughout her time in California. In the late 1960s, Mankiller joined the activist movement and participated in the Occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969. For five years, she volunteered for the Pit River Tribe.^[13]

After divorcing Hugo Olaya, Mankiller moved back to Oklahoma with her two young daughters in 1977, in hopes of helping her own people and began an entry-level job for the Cherokee Nation.

Political career

By 1983, she was elected deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation,^[14] alongside Ross Swimmer, who was serving his third consecutive term as principal chief. In 1985, Chief Swimmer resigned to take the position as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This allowed Mankiller to become the first female principal chief.^[14] She was freely elected in 1987, and re-elected again in 1991 in a landslide victory, collecting 83% of the vote.^[15] In 1995, Mankiller chose not to run again for Chief largely due to health problems.

Mankiller faced many obstacles during her tenure in office. At the time she became chief, the Cherokee Nation was male-dominated. Such a structure contrasted with the traditional Cherokee culture and value system, which instead emphasized a balance between the two genders. Over the course of her three terms, Mankiller would make great strides to bring back that balance and reinvigorate the Cherokee Nation through community-development projects where men and women work collectively for the common good,based on the Bureau of Indian Affairs "Self Help" programs first initiated by the United Keetoowah Band, and with the help of the Federal Governments Self-Determination monies. These project include establishing tribally owned businesses, such as horticultural operations and plants with government defense contracts, and improving infrastructure, such as providing running water to the community of Bell, Oklahoma and building a hydroelectric facility.^[16]

Under the US Federal policy of Native American self-determination, Mankiller was able to improve federal-tribal negotiations, paving the way for today's Government-to-Government relationship the Cherokee Nation has with the US Federal Government.^[17]

Examples of progress included the founding of the Cherokee Nation Community Development Department, the revival of Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, and a population increase of Cherokee Nation citizens from 55,000 to 156,000.

"Prior to my election," says Mankiller, "young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief."^[18]

Personal life

After many years working together on Cherokee community development projects, Mankiller married her longtime friend, Charlie Lee Soap, a full-blood Cherokee traditionalist and fluent Cherokee speaker, in 1986.^[19] They lived on Mankiller's ancestral land at Mankiller Flats. In March 2010 she was reported to be seriously ill with pancreatic cancer.^[20] She died of the disease aged 64 on April 6, 2010. She is survived by her husband and both her daughters.^[21][22]

Achievements

She won several awards including Ms. Magazine's Woman of the Year in 1987, Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, Woman of the Year, the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, John W. Gardner Leadership Award, Independent Sector,^[23] and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.^[14]

Her first book, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People, an autobiography, became a national bestseller. Gloria Steinem said in a review that, "As one woman's journey, Mankiller opens the heart. As the history of a people, it informs the mind. Together, it teaches us that, as long as people like Wilma Mankiller carry the flame within them, centuries of ignorance and genocide can't extinguish the human spirit." In 2004, Mankiller co-authored Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women.^[23]

Mankiller is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the first woman chief of a Native American tribe. In the 20th century, Alice Brown Davis became Principal Chief of the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma in 1922,^[24] and Mildred Cleghorn became the Chairperson of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe in 1976.^[25] In earlier times, a number of women led their tribes.

In 1994, Mankiller and the singer Patsy Cline were among the inductees into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.

Controversy

Mankiller's terms as chief were not without controversy. Mankiller established the law that limited tribal membership by excluding the Freedmen section of Cherokee Indians listed on the Dawes Rolls, generating the later Cherokee freedmen controversy. This law was ruled unconstitutional in 2006 by the Cherokee Nation's Judicial Appeals Tribunal (now called the Cherokee Supreme Court).

Mankiller's administration was involved in many conflicts with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB), the other federally-recognized Cherokee tribe headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Her administration questioned the jurisdiction of the UKB, culminating in the closure of the UKB's smoke shops.

A lawsuit was filed by the Cherokee Nation against Mankiller with allegations of embezzlement of tribal funds at the end of her final term in office. The case was regarding $300,000 paid out to tribal officials and department heads who left at the end of her term in 1995. The case, titled Cherokee Nation v. Mankiller, was withdrawn by a vote of the tribal council.^[26]

"We've had daunting problems in many critical areas," Mankiller has been quoting as saying, "but I believe in the old Cherokee injunction to 'be of a good mind.' Today it's called positive thinking."^[14]

Mankiller's published writing

• Hurtado, Albert L., editor. Mankiller, Wilma Pearl, introduction. Reflections on American Indian History: Honoring the Past, Building a Future. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. ISBN 0806138963.
• Mankiller, Wilma, Vine Deloria, Jr., and Gloria Steinem. Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-55591-516-7
• Mankiller, Wilma and Michael Wallis. Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-312-20662-3
• Smith, Barbara, Gloria Steinem, Gwendolyn Mink, Marysa Navarro, and Wilma Mankiller, editors. A Reader's Companion to the History of Women in the U.S. Boston: Mariner Books, 1999. ISBN 0-395-67173-6
• Kauger, Yvonne, Richard Du Bey, Wilma Pearl Mankiller, Judy A. Zelio. Promoting Effective State-Tribal Relations: A Dialogue. National Conference of State Legislatures: 1990. ISBN 1555169759.
• Mankiller, Wilma P. The chief cooks: traditional Cherokee recipes. Muskogee, OK: Hoffman Printing Company, 1988. ASIN B000728364.

References

1. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 31
2. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 5
3. http://www.notablebiographies.com/Lo-Ma/Mankiller-Wilma.html
4. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 9
5. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 4
6. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 12
7. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 32
8. Mankiller and Wallis, pp. 62-3
9. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 63, 70, 102
10. Mankiller and Wallis, pp. 145-47
11. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 150
12. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 158
13. Mankiller and Wallis, p. 204
14. a b c d Women of the Hall. National Women's Hall of Fame. (retrieved 21 June 2009)
15. Champagne, p. 104
16. Champagne, p. 104-5
17. Meredith, p. 143
18. Wilma Pearl Mankiller: First woman chief of an American-Indian nation. America.gov. 27 April 2008 (retrieved 21 June 2009)
19. Mankiller and Wallis, pp. 235-37
20. Shannon Muchmore, "Former Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller gravely ill, husband says", Tulsa World, March 2, 2010.
21. http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/local/local_story_096122833.html
22. http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=12263808
23. a b Nelson
24. Bates, Rechenda Davis Davis, Alice Brown (1852-1935). Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. (retrieved 21 June 09)
25. Everett, Dianna. "Cleghorn, Mildred Imoch (1910-1997)" Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. (retrieved 21 June 09)
26. Hales, Donna. "Cherokee Councillors Vote." Muskogee Phoenix. (March 20, 1998)

Sources

• Champagne, Duane. Native America: Portrait of the Peoples. Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8103-9452-9.
• Edmunds, R. David. The New Warriors: Native American Leaders Since 1900. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.
• Meredith, Howard. Modern American Indian Tribal Government and Politics. Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Community College Press, 1993. ISBN 0-912586-76-1.
• Mankiller, Wilma and Wallis, Michael. Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-312-20662-3.
• Houghton Mifflin Review of A Readers Companion to the History of Women in the U.S
• Nelson, Andrew. People: "Wilma Mankiller" Salon.com, Nov. 20, 2001.

[Star Traveler]

A Tulsa World "Web Extra" section on Wilma Mankiller ...

[Star Traveler]

Former Cherokee Chief dies

Written by Cherokee Nation Communications Office
Tuesday, 06 April 2010 14:08

Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, passed away this morning.

Mankiller served 12 years in elective office at the Cherokee Nation, the first two as Deputy Principal Chief followed by 10 years as Principal Chief.  She retired from public office in 1995.  Among her many honors, Mankiller was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton. 

“Our personal and national hearts are heavy with sorrow and sadness with the passing this morning of Wilma Mankiller,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.  “We feel overwhelmed and lost when we realize she has left us but we should reflect on what legacy she leaves us. We are better people and a stronger tribal nation because her example of Cherokee leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace, determination and decisiveness.  When we become disheartened, we will be inspired by remembering how Wilma proceeded undaunted through so many trials and tribulations. Years ago, she and her husband Charlie Soap showed the world what Cherokee people can do when given the chance, when they organized the self-help water line in the Bell community.  She said Cherokees in that community learned that it was their choice, their lives, their community and their future. Her gift to us is the lesson that our lives and future are for us to decide. We can carry on that Cherokee legacy by teaching our children that lesson. Please keep Wilma’s family, especially her husband Charlie and her daughters, Gina and Felicia, in your prayers.”

Mankiller requested that any gifts in her honor be made as donations to One Fire Development Corporation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing Native American communities though economic development, and to valuing the wisdom that exists within each of the diverse tribal communities around the world.  Tax deductible donations can be made at www.wilmamankiller.com as well as www.onefiredevelopment.org The mailing address for One Fire Development Corporation is 1220 Southmore  Houston, TX 77004 Details of her memorial service will be forthcoming.

[Woodman]

Do I really only need to be 1/128th to receive benefits? I am an 1/8th and don't look like an American Indian at all.

[Star Traveler]

Wilma Mankiller, noted former Cherokee chief, dies

FROM STAFF REPORTS   
Published: April 6, 2010

Wilma Pearl Mankiller, the first woman to serve as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and a noted leader who met with presidents and worked tirelessly for American Indians, died this morning of pancreatic cancer, a tribal spokesman said. She was 64.

Mankiller was elected the first female deputy chief and president of the tribal council in 1985. In 1987, she was elected to serve as the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, the second-largest tribe in the United States. She was re-elected in 1991 and chose not to seek re-election in 1995.

Gov. Brad Henry called her "an inspirational leader and a great American, someone who was truly a legend in her own time."

Chad Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation expressed sadness.

"We feel overwhelmed and lost when we realize she has left us but we should reflect on what legacy she leaves us. We are better people and a stronger tribal nation because her example of Cherokee leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace, determination and decisiveness.

"As a leader and a person, Chief Wilma Mankiller continually defied the odds and overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to better her tribe, her state and her nation. Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation and the United States will dearly miss Wilma and her visionary leadership, but her words and deeds will live on forever to benefit future generations.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mankiller family and Wilma's many friends and loved ones," Smith said.

She was a leader in women's rights and Indian rights and served on the boards of numerous humanitarian groups and foundations.

In a statement released by the tribe March 2, Mankiller said, "I want my family and friends to know that I am mentally and spiritually prepared for this journey; a journey that all human beings will take at one time or another. 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. On balance, I have been blessed with an extraordinarily rich and wonderful life, filled with incredible experiences ... It's been my privilege to meet and be touched by thousands of people in my life and I regret not being able to deliver this message personally to so many of you."

Mankiller was born in Tahlequah and moved to California as a child. She returned to Oklahoma in 1977 and was the founding director of the Cherokee Nation Community Development Department before being elected deputy chief. She met with Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to discuss tribal issues, and helped facilitate the establishment of an Office of Indian Justice within the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mankiller received numerous awards and was presented with the Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in January 1998. She was named Ms. Magazine's Woman of the Year and ABC News Person of the Week, both in 1987, and was named one of the "100 Most Important Women in America" by Ladies' Home Journal in 1987.

At the time of her death, she held 14 honorary doctorates, including ones from Yale University and Dartmouth College.

Mankiller donated letters and other papers about her tenure as chief to the University of Oklahoma in 1998. They are housed in the school's Western History library.

Pancreatic cancer was not Mankiller's first bout with the disease. She was diagnosed with colon cancer and lymphoma in 1996. She also received two kidney transplants, the first in 1990 and the second in 1998. Radiation treatments destroyed the first.

After the announcement of her death today, the Oklahoma Senate observed a moment of silence in her honor.

[Star Traveler]

Wilma Mankiller: A Timeline

  Published: April 6, 2010

Nov. 18, 1945 Born at Hastings Indian Hospital in Tahlequah, the sixth of 11 children of Charlie and Clara Irene (Sitton) Mankiller.

1956 Moved with her family to San Francisco as part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Relocation Program.

1963 Married Hector H. Olaya.

1964 Daughter Felicia Marie Olaya born.

1966 Daughter Gina Irene Olaya born.

1969 Raised money for American Indian activists who occupied the abandoned prison on Alcatraz Island.

1973-75 Attended Skyline College and San Francisco State College; divorced.

1977 Returned to Oklahoma; earned bachelor of arts degree by correspondence from Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities; became community development director for the Cherokee Nation.

1979 Survived near-fatal auto accident.

1983 Elected first female deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation, and president of the tribal council.

1985 Became principal chief of the Cherokee Nation when former chief Ross Swimmer left to become head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

1986 Married Charlie Soap.

1987 Elected to serve as the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

1988 With other tribal leaders, met with President Ronald Reagan at the White House.

1991 Re-elected chief of the Cherokee Nation.

1993 Published the book, "Mankiller: A Chief and Her People;" inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

1994 Announced she would not seek re-election; inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

1996 Accepted a Montgomery Fellowship to teach at Dartmouth College.

1998 Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

2004 Published the book, "Every Day is a Good Day."

2005 Taught a class on tribal government, law and life at the University of Oregon.

2009 Named Northeastern State University's first Sequoyah Institute Fellow.

March 2, 2010 Husband Charlie Soap confirmed Mankiller was gravely ill with stage IV pancreatic cancer.

April 6, 2010 Death announced by the Cherokee Nation.

[Category Four]

Liberal though she was, she cast a mighty shadow over Oklahoma (my actual home state) ... may she indeed RIP.

[gundog]

For all I know, 1/128 isn’t the cutoff. But I worked with a guy that was, and had his little card to prove it. I’m 1/16 and claim nothing, and was a little disgusted that someone 7 generations removed, who had no idea who Wilma Mankiller was, was getting free dental. Of course, it dovetails nicely with his Scottish heritage, which seems to entail getting teeth knocked out in bar fights.

[Outlaw Woman]

...who grew up to become an American Indian...

How exactly does one do that?

[EveningStar]

You have to read the entire sentence:

...who grew up to become an American Indian and women’s rights activist...

She was an American Indian activist and a women's right activist.

The sentence was poorly constructed. This would have been better:

...who grew up to be an activist in both American Indian rights and women's rights...