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Prior to my election, young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.

Wilma Mankiller

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Wilma Mankiller
Age: 64 †
Born: 1945
Born: November 18
Died: 2010
Died: April 6
Author
Autobiographer
Tribal Chief
Writer
Сhief Of The Cherokee Nation
Tahlequah
Oklahoma
Chief Wilman Mankiller
A-ji-luhsgi Asgaya-dihi
Wilma Pearl Mankiller
Thought
Prior
Become
Chief
Young
Chiefs
Women
Election
Might
Girls
Never
Grow
Would
Grows
Girl
Cherokee

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Look forward. Turn what has been done into a better path.
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Women in leadership roles can help restore balance and wholeness to our communities.
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One of the things my parents taught me, and I'll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me that for me to define myself. and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.
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The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.
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People say that crisis changes people and turns ordinary people into wiser or more responsible ones.
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Cows run away from the storm while the buffalo charges toward it - and gets through it quicker. Whenever I’m confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment, I become the buffalo.
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America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking.
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Everybody is sitting around saying, 'Well, jeez, we need somebody to solve this problem of bias.' That somebody is us. We all have to try to figure out a better way to get along.
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Every single person has leadership ability. Some step up and take them. Some don't. My answer was to step up and lead.
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Individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward.
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An Indian is an Indian regardless of the degree of Indian blood or which little government card they do or do not possess.
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If you argue with a fool, someone passing by will not be able to tell who is the fool and who is not.
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I think the most important issue we have as a people is what we started, and that is to begin to trust our own thinking again and belive in ourselves enough to think that we can articulate our own vision of the future and then work to make sure that that vision becomes a reality.
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We celebrate Thanksgiving along with the rest of America, maybe in different ways and for different reasons. Despite everything that's happened to us since we fed the Pilgrims, we still have our language, our culture, our distinct social system. Even in a nuclear age, we still have a tribal people.
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I don't think anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future.
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In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
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Growth is a painful process. If we’re ever going to collectively begin to grapple with the problems that we have collectively, we’re going to have to move back the veil and deal with each other on a more human level.
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A lot of young girls have looked to their career paths and have said they'd like to be chief. There's been a change in the limits people see.
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I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves.
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Negative thoughts were treated by Cherokee healers with the same medicines as wounds, headaches, or physical illness. It was believed that unchecked negative thoughts can permeate the being and manifest themselves in negative actions.
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