Wilma P. Mankiller was elected the first woman chief of the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma in July 1987.  Born in 1945 in Rocky Mountain,
Oklahoma, she grew up in a poor rural community.  At the age of twelve,
she and her family were relocated to California (as part of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs Relocation Program) where she experienced the urban side of
poverty.  She earned a degree in social work and community planning, and
returned to Rocky Mountain where she has used her experience and training
to raise funds and start programs to improve her community.  Among her
accomplishments are the Community Development Department, The Cherokee
Gardens horticultural operation, and the Bell Community project which laid
a sixteen-mile water line and improved many N ative American homes.  She
has won many awards, and in May 1990, she received an honorary Doctorate
of Humane Letters from Yale University.