Wilma Mankiller visits campus

Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation visited Franklin Pierce on Tuesday, April 29. Mankiller was the final guest for the Tuesday Briefing series this year. The discussion was hosted by Professor Donna Decker and Sophomore Gabrielle Aufiero. Mankiller began by mentioning how impressed she was by how the University has handled the recent hate speech occurring on campus. "I want to commend the school for doing the teach-in," Mankiller said. Decker then asked if rumors of her being shy as a young girl were true. Mankiller responded that it was her passion for social justice and her sense of what was right, that made getting up in front of large crowds easy. In 1985, Mankiller became the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation after Chief Ross Swimmer resigned to take a position as the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Many people objected to a female chief, Mankiller's car tires were slashed and she received death threats. She said that there was no point in worrying about what people thought of you. That it was not a problem with her. It was a problem with the people who did not like her. Activism has been a significant part of Mankiller's life. In 1969, she was one of the individuals in a group of Native American university students that occupied Alcatraz Island to bring attention to the issues affecting their tribes. Civil rights, women's rights, Native American's rights, and free speech have all been driving forces in Mankiller's life. Decker asked if Mankiller believed that young people had forgotten about the activism so prevalent in the 1960's and 1970's. "There's still a lot of activism going on, just in a different way," Mankiller said. She sees that young people believe in causes like the environment, and believes that there is a lot of potential for activism that people just need to be inspired and that their activist spirit needs to be tapped into. As the head of the Women in Leadership program Decker concentrated on the issue of sexism in the United States, and how women can take on roles of leadership in this country. Mankiller believes that there is still a great deal of sexism occurring today, as is evident with the under-representation of women in the senate, even though women account for more than half of the total population. A member of the audience asked Mankiller who her role models were growing up. She said that her parents were because of the lessons they taught her in life. Her parents taught her that human beings are inter-dependent, that they rely on each other for survival. She recalled a story of her dad, he would keep $20 in his wallet and if he met someone who had less money than he did, he would give that person the $20. At the end of the Q&A with the audience, Mankiller was asked what was the best piece of advice she would give to the Franklin Pierce community. "The people that are happiest in life are engaged in the world around them," Mankiller said. "Use your mind and your heart," she said. The discussion ended with a question about where the last name Mankiller comes from. The name is an old military title that was given to the person in charge of protecting the village. As Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Mankiller was responsible for the second largest tribe in the United States, the largest being the Dine, or Navajo, tribe. According to PowerSource.com, she represented a population of well over 140,000 people. The Cherokee Nation had an annual budget of $75 million. The tribe had over 1,200 employees spread over 7,000 square miles.