M5 Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Leader

Wilma Mankiller



Wilma Mankiller was a leader and activist for the Cherokee Nation. Her achievements speak to her passion for people of the Cherokee Nation but also for all women and Native Americans. Her personal life is a witness of overcoming hardships. If I were to describe her in one word, I would say resilient.


After viewing her 2008 presentation at Sonoma State University, I was compelled to research a bit more about her life. Her strength and dedication are what I first noticed when watching. After hearing her speak for a while I was impressed with the depth of understanding she had for government, woman's issues and of course her Native American heritage. For a very knowledgeable person with varied life experiences, her presence was warm and approachable. It is those attributes that must have gained her the votes to become the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1985.


In her leadership role she concentrated on social welfare issues for her people. In her tenure membership enrollment and employment increased. Health issues and programming were a focus of her two terms of leadership. Her reasons for not seeking a third term were health related.


Afflicted with health issues through her adulthood, she was a cancer survivor, kidney transplant recipient and suffered with myasthenia gravis. She survived a horrific car accident that claimed the life of her friend and caused her to almost lose her leg. When she speaks of her health and life in the Sonoma University presentation, you realize the endurance she was capable of.


In 1998 she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Upon her death in 2010, President Obama issued a statement saying:

"Her legacy will continue to encourage and motivate all who carry on her work."

I believe this is true. Of the many people we have studied in this course, Wilma Mankiller was one that I was familiar with before this assignment. Although my knowledge of her was accurate before, I had only seen pictures of her. Watching her speak has given me a more intimate perspective of her life.






Evans, Rochelle. Boston.com. The New York Times, 7 Apr. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

"Wilma Pearl Mankiller." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

"Wilma Mankiller." YouTube. YouTube, 6 Feb. 2008. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

M3 Assignment

GSA-The General Services Administration

The online source I reviewed for Module 3 was the GSA guidelines for Tribal Consultation with the Federal   Government: 

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/105007

The site is created  by the GSA. The General Services Administration is an umbrella agency for the Federal Government that manages the logistics of all the federal agencies.  It provides facilities, properties, products and communications to all federal agencies.  Its overview helps with consistency and support government-wide initiatives.

The page on Tribal Consultation includes history of current Executive Branch and GSA policy with web links.  The language used to introduce the history described the relationship between the United States Government and Native Peoples as unique and special.  This language is encouraging but I am not sure how true it is. 

I found the inconsistency  of language interesting.The page referenced above refers in the very first sentence to "Indian Tribes," Although the the GSA policy ADM1072.1 orders that the term used be  Native American.  That policy can be found here:

http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/pbs/GSA_ADM_1072.1.pdf

A link in the side bar to a page on "Strategies for Successful Tribal Consultation" discusses how cultural sensitivity is important and it can be gained by regional/local knowledge. I question how often that is taken into account when agencies are dealing with native groups.  Another link goes to a page that explains the National Historic Preservation Act which defines what tribe is and  that as of 2003 there were 562 federally recognized tribes by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

I think it is beneficial to see the current literature and vocabulary used in Federal Government matters dealing with Native American Tribes.   I think this site is very specific to serve the needs of federal agencies and not educate the general public.  In an academic study including current Native American political and economic  issues, it is important to view primary source material.  These websites are resources for federal employees but also informative for academics. 

Let's Go to the Map

Let's Go to the Map!

Of the map resources we have referenced so far, I found Indian County to be very comprehensive. It is produced as part of the Indian and Oklahoma Territory Genealogy Project.

OK/ITGenWeb was created so that people could explore and prove their Native American ancestry.  In addition, it is a wonderful tool for those who would like learn more about the timelines and history of the First Peoples of the United Sates.  Using a map based reference can be helpful to the visual learner. The collection of pages is subtitled for easy reference.   The large amount of information and the user friendly subtitles create a very informative tool. Sections on trails and roads, cultural areas and state links have simple breakdowns to the many linked pages.  The pages on migrations, removals, postal routes and timeline maps give a linear look at the histories.  The page on the 1900 Territorial Census offers those looking for ancestry lines an understandable breakdown of the census data.

The trail and roads page has extensive links to help understand the travel paths used prior to and early in the contact period.  Starting with the list of native trails, it builds on the history of cattle trails and wagon roads and how they evolved during migrations and removals of the Native Communities. When I consider the complexity of our modern day road and rail system, I am saddened to think of how much horrific history lies under our asphalt.

When looking through the pages, I was surprised at the different facts and information that struck me (I guess I am more of a visual learner than I thought.)  On the timeline page I read through their explanation of the words "Indian Territory" and "Indian Country."  This solidified my understanding of how Native Peoples view the history and changes my perspective of how important vocabulary is for this discussion.  What an interesting thing to learn from a map based reference!


http://www.okgenweb.org/~itgenweb/itprojects/index.htm
http://www.okgenweb.org/~itgenweb/
*This ongoing endeavor labels which parts are still under construction so you are aware of resources that might change.

Native American Images Project

Native American Images Project

The Native American Images Project is an assortment of images from the vast collection gathered by The American Philosophical Society (APS).   Created in colonial times by Benjamin Franklin and many of his "Founding Father" colleagues, the APS was meant to be an assemblage of useful knowledge to be preserved and shared.The Native American Images Project is categorized into galleries by themes. The images seen in the galleries are a small sampling of the archive of historical information stored by the Society over more than 200 years .  

The Digital Library was created to encourage people to visit the American Philosophical Society Museum and Library in Philadelphia in person, but it offers a wide array of virtual resources to web visitors.  In addition to printed materials, audio selections from the Native American Sound Recordings can also be accessed online.  Although some excerpts are open to the public, the majority of the collection is protected for the reasons of cultural sensitivity, to be accessed by formal request to the APS to students and researchers.   An interesting note about the origin of preserving Native American Language information is that the idea came from Thomas Jefferson when he was president of the United States and the APS simultaneously.  To know that he was advocating for the curing of native languages while his government policies were destroying them is very troubling to me.

One of the galleries I found intriguing was Families and Communities.  With my day job in marriage and family ministry, I took a strong interest in these images of families.  I was glad to have a magnifying tool embedded in the viewing box to be able to get closer looks at the surroundings of the family in the picture above.  To see their shelter, belongings and lifestyle made me curious about the Cocopa.    I searched further on the site to find a recording of Josephine Thomas, a Cocopa from Arizona, recorded in the mid 1960's, just before I was born. I listened to Josephine Thomas speak and sing.  She reminded me of my own grandmother, a gentle, soothing tone filled with wisdom.  I imagined her hands working while her words floated over the room she was in, filling it with her memory.  I can hear the hard work and care for her family in her voice



Sources and Links

Cocopa Settlement picture Baja, CA

http://www.amphilsoc.org/about

http://www.amphilsoc.org/exhibit/natamimages/families

Josephine Thomas