When Karen Diver was a little girl, she was keenly aware of the strong activism of Wilma Mankiller.
As she grew older, the leadership of the former Cherokee Nation chief helped pave the way for Diver and other female American Indian leaders.
“I think she made a lot of us think that it was possible,” said Diver, chairwoman of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Mankiller, one of the nation’s most visible American Indian leaders and the first woman to lead a major tribe, died Tuesday at her home in Adair County, Okla. She was 64 and had pancreatic cancer.
Mankiller’s first taste of federal policy toward American Indians came when her family ended up in a housing project after a government relocation project. She went on to become a leader who took American Indian issues to the White House and met with three presidents, earning a reputation for facing conflict head-on.
“I admired Ms. Mankiller for her tireless advocacy on behalf of our native people,” said Donna Ennis, co-chairwoman of the Duluth American Indian Commission. “She was able to accomplish so much … and correct some of the myths about native people, but in a gentle way.”
Although there were many female leaders within American Indian communities before Mankiller’s time, she was the first national female leader, Diver said.
As the first female chief of the Cherokees, from 1985-95, Mankiller tripled tribal enrollment, doubled employment and built health centers and children’s programs.
Born Nov. 18, 1945, at an Indian hospital in Tahlequah, Okla., Mankiller moved with her family to San Francisco in the 1950s when their farm failed. The pledge of opportunity turned out to be poverty in a housing project. She married and had two daughters, Felicia and Gina.
In 1969, she got what she called “an enormous wake-up call” and took her first step into activism by participating in the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in protest of a federal policy terminating the government’s recognition of tribal sovereignty.
Mankiller moved back to her family’s land in Oklahoma after getting divorced in 1975. A decade later, she succeeded former Chief Ross Swimmer, who had selected her as his running mate because of her business savvy. During her re-election campaign, she pledged to improve the tribe’s economic interests.
As chief of the Tahlequah-based tribe, Mankiller was less of an activist and more of a pragmatist. She was criticized for focusing almost exclusively on social programs instead of pushing for smoke shops and high-stakes gambling.
“She was really focused on good governance and service to her people,” Diver said. “For that, she was a role model to many of us.”
Mankiller decided not to seek re-election in 1995, and accepted a teaching position at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Among her honors was a Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian award — presented in 1998.
Continual struggles with her health appeared not to deter her. A 1979 car accident nearly claimed her life and resulted in 17 operations. She developed the muscular disorder myasthenia gravis, had a kidney transplant in 1990 and also battled lymphoma, breast cancer and other health problems.
“We feel overwhelmed and lost when we realize she has left us, but we should reflect on what legacy she leaves us,” Cherokee Chief Chad Smith said.
Besides her daughters, survivors include her husband, Charlie Soap, as well as four grandchildren and great-grandchildren.