Female Chief of Cherokees Cites Tribe Tradition

The Cherokee nation has its first elected woman leader, and Chief Wilma Mankiller said Sunday that it should come as no surprise.

“True tribal tradition recognizes the importance of women,” she said after her election Saturday to head the 75,000-member Western Cherokee Nation, which she has led as appointed chief since 1985.

Indeed, it was not until the Cherokees, known as a progressive and matriarchal society, began to adopt some of the white man’s values that a balance between the sexes in the tribe was lost, she said.

Complete but unofficial results from all 35 precincts showed that Mankiller received 5,914 votes in the runoff election. Challenger Perry Wheeler received 4,670.

The tribal election committee will meet Tuesday night to certify the election.

Mankiller said she felt “a great sense of relief” after being elected to the $55,000-a-year post.

‘Tough Campaign’

“This has been a real intense and very tough campaign,” she said from her home in Stilwell. “I’ve been campaigning for about six months, since late January, planning a strategy. I spent half a year on this.”

The 41-year-old native of Stilwell speaks strongly about her role as leader of the tribe, which she said must improve living conditions, such as water systems and education, before economic growth can occur.

Mankiller, who has a bachelor’s degree in social services, began her career with the tribe as a grant proposal writer in the mid-1970s and was elected deputy chief in 1983. She took over Chief Ross Swimmer’s post in 1985 when he resigned to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Interior Department.

The Western Cherokee Nation is the country’s second-largest tribe, with most of its members in a 14-county area in northeastern Oklahoma.