Some Extra Facts about Wilma Mankiller

According to Wilma Mankiller, the name Mankiller is an "old Cherokee military title. It was usually given to a person who was in a position of safeguarding a Cherokee village." (Her original Cherokee family name is Asgaya-dihi, which translated to English means "mankiller".)

In historical times, contrary to popular belief, Cherokee women played an important role in social, political, and cultural life of the Cherokees. Families were usually organized into matrilineal clans and women, in general, controlled the property and family life. It was not until the invasion of the white Europeans that the notion of women as second-class and subservient became the norm.

Cherokee people refer to themselves as "Ani-Yin' wiya," which means "leading or principal people" in the Cherokee language. The Cherokee Nation is one of the few Native American tribes that has a written language. A leader among the Cherokee, Sequoyah, developed the syllabary "Tsa-la-gi" in the early 19th century. "Never before or since, in the history of the world, has one man perfected a system for reading and writing a spoken language." Sequoyah's gift was truly a practical and empowering one.

Wilma Mankiller's father, Charley, was a full-blooded Cherokee and her mother, Irene, was Dutch and Irish.

Wilma Mankiller has six brothers and four sisters - (Louis Donald, 1937; Freida Marie, 1939; Robert Charles, 1940; Frances Kay, 1942; John David, 1943; Wilma Pearl, 1945; Linda Jean, 1949; Richard Colson, 1951; Vanessa Lou, 1953; James Ray, 1956; William Edward, 1961).

Mankiller has two daughters - (Felicia, 1964 and Gina, 1966) and three stepsons - (Cobey, Chris, and Winterhawk, 1980). Mankiller and Charlie Soap have been married since 1986, and his son Winterhawk lives with them in Oklahoma.

Both of Mankiller's daughters married men with Cherokee ancestry and she now has four grandchildren. Felicia's children are Aaron, 1986; Jaron, 1990; and Breanna Swake, 1991. Gina's son is Kellen Quinton, 1989.

To read more about this fascinating woman, read her autobiography. It's titled Mankiller: A Chief and Her People and is co-written by Michael Wallis.