In Cherokee culture, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts and other close female relatives have always stood at the center of our families and communities. They serve as our first teachers, ...

In 1992, Wilma Mankiller gave the commencement address at Flagstaff’s Northern Arizona University. Several years earlier, Mankiller had become the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, ...

I: Crisis of gender -- Cultural continuity -- Early catalysts for change -- The trail of tears -- II: Crisis of the Civil War and reconstruction -- The Civil War -- Reconstruction -- III: Crisis of ...