Summary Of Wilma Mankiller's Speech Rebuilding The Cherokee Nation

In the speech Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation given by Wilma Mankillers I think she has a lot of valuable points about how she would like to see the Cherokee nation rebuilt, how she wants people to look past stereotypes and see her as the Chief of the Cherokee Nation, and how she describes being able to accomplish all of this. From what I have read about Wilma Mankiller and her background is that she was the first woman to ever lead a major Native America Tribe in the United States of American. Wilma was a former Chief of the Cherokee Nation for 10 years from 1985-1995 which is the second biggest tribe in America. The name Mankiller comes from an old Cherokee military rank that she got from her ancestors who was given that name for looking over the village. She lived on the land with her husband Charlie Soap and his son Winterhawk which changed her candidacy and won the respect of the Cherokee Nation because of the impact she had on her tribe for focusing on self-sufficiency and the tribe’s needs with no outside …show more content…
In her speech she mention how to address her, the relocation of the Cherokees/how to rebuild, and how she overcame how sexist and stereotypical some people she encountered were. Throughout her speech she was showing me how important her tribe was to her and how historical events were important to the reconstruction of the Cherokee Tribe and that they are key as to why the Cherokee nation has to be repaired. The background that’s important to know about the Cherokees is that they have been devastatingly relocated a couple of times especially being the trail of tears. The trail of tears was a disastrous and heartbreaking event that made the Cherokee Indians lose everything including lives of loved ones and move from their traditional homelands. This is a big reason why they now need to rebuild their