Leaning back on her leather couch inside the Montgomery House, Wilma Mankiller, this term's Montgomery Fellow, laughed when asked about her first impression of Dartmouth.
"I love blitzing people," she said.
Professional, friendly and sophisticated, Mankiller is the epitome of a strong leader, and her passion for the lives of Native Americans makes it clear why she was twice elected to the office of principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.
The Montgomery Endowment, initiated in 1978 by Kenneth Montgomery '25, who passed away last week, invites prominent individuals from various disciplines to come to the College to share their experiences in lecture or classes.
Not only do Montgomery Fellows receive several honors and great freedom regarding how they participate in campus life, they also live in the plush Montgomery House -- part of Kenneth Montgomery's original endowment.
Mankiller said she likes the one-story yellow house standing across the street from Dick's House.
Full of flowers, shelves of books and a wide variety of artwork -- especially Native American art -- the house serves as a comfortable space for living and learning.
Before serving as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, Mankiller was deputy principal chief from 1983 to 1985. She has won a multitude of awards, most recently this year's Chubb Fellowship from Timothy Dwight College at Yale University.
She received an honorary degree from Dartmouth in 1991 and Ms. Magazine named her their Woman of the Year in 1987.
Mankiller will discuss the past, present and future of Native Americans in a speech at 7:30 tonight in Cook Auditorium.
Experiencing Dartmouth
Mankiller has not hesitated to integrate herself into the Dartmouth culture. Enthusiastic about being the Montgomery Fellow, Mankiller said she wanted to "talk to as many students and as many faculty as possible."
Mankiller said her role as a Montgomery Fellow is to provide people with "accurate information about native peoples and try to erase some of the stereotypes people have about Native Americans."
Marysa Navarro, chair of the Latin American and Caribbean studies program, and a long-time friend of Mankiller, said she believes Mankiller is "very friendly and open ... exemplary in terms of what the Montgomery Endowment wants to give to the College."
Navarro said the two met while working together for the Ms. Foundation, "the first and most important feminist foundation." Since then, the two have collaborated with feminists Gwendolyn Meek and Gloria Steinem to write The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History, published by Houghton-Mifflin.
Mankiller said as the term progresses, she will spend more time guest-lecturing in courses.
Mike Hanitchak, acting director of the Native American program, said Mankiller will soon guest lecture in a course he is teaching, "Native Americans: Film and Television."
"For the Native American community," Hanitchak said Mankiller's presence on campus, "really gives an example of what's going on in Indian America today."
Mankiller said she also holds seminars, pertaining to Native American studies and environmental studies, most of which she will host in the Montgomery House.
One drawback to Mankiller's move to Hanover, since her move from her home in Stilwell, Okla., is that she was unable to bring along her husband and four children. Two of her children are still in high school and the other two are grown.
Mankiller said people often comment on the uniqueness of her surname, and some have questioned its validity. Chuckling, she assured The Dartmouth that "Mankiller" is definitely her family's last name.
Leading the Cherokee Nation
She described herself as primarily a "developer" -- she has lead the way in developing improvements for the Cherokees' health care and children programs.
In 1985, Mankiller was appointed to be the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. She ran for the office in 1987 and was elected in her own right. Her election made Mankiller the first woman elected to be the chief of a major American tribe.
She was re-elected in 1991 to another term that ended in August, 1995, when she declined to run again.
A popular leader who garnered 83 percent of the votes in the 1991 election, Mankiller laughed good-naturedly as she said of her tenure, "I enjoyed every single day of it."
Mankiller said her duties focused on overseeing the Cherokee tribal government, and specifically to insure its people education, health care and day care services. She compared her role as chief to "being president of a small country." The Cherokee Nation currently has about 156,000 members.
Mankiller said she often visited Washington D.C. as an advocate for Native Americans.
Because the political clout of Native Americans is "not even a blip on the national screen," Mankiller said she went to Washington so the federal government would not be able to easily dismiss the concerns of Native Americans.
"It's important just to be there," she said.
Mankiller said she will still work for the cause of the Cherokee Nation and Native Americans, even thought she no longer participates in the Cherokee Nation's executive government.
"When I began to sound like people I used to protest against, I decided it was time to leave," Mankiller said.
She said she found she had become "somewhat bureaucratic" and that it was "time for a change."
Goals for Native Americans
Mankiller said she has encouraged and participated in "revitalization" movements among Native Americans.
Native Americans should look to their own heritages as their "languages, tales, histories and values" to solve some of their problems in the modern world, Mankiller said.
"The big question," she said, "is how to remain Cherokee, retain a sense of who we are as a native people, and still interact with the world around us."
Mankiller pointed out that the use of native languages have been on the decline for decades.
But she also said some companies have begun producing CD-ROM computer disks containing information about tribal histories and languages.
"The Cherokee do not have a lot of options for economic development," Mankiller said, and past incidents have limited Native Americans, especially when the United States government relocated tribes.
By April 1839, nearly a quarter of the Cherokees had died because of the tribe's first relocation from the southeastern United States to Oklahoma.
"The tribes were moved forcibly," Mankiller said. She said tribes usually ended up on land poor for agriculture and distant from commercial centers.
Still, Mankiller said she sees promise in Native Americans' taking advantage of the American market system by developing manufacturing, opening up casinos and producing crafts to sell tourists.
Speaking tonight
Tonight's speech will be Mankiller's first public appearance as a Montgomery Fellow.
She said she will discuss Native American populations, "our history, where we are today, where we are going to be in the future."
A self-proclaimed optimist, Mankiller said she wants to focus her speech on positive aspects of contemporary Native American issues, especially movements among Native Americans to develop their economies and revive their historic traditions.
