Every day is a good day.
That is the message Wilma Mankiller expressed Thursday when she spoke about the hardships American Indians faced and gave encouraging advice for the future.
Mankiller, author of Controlling Our Own Image: Public Perception as a Sovereignty Protection Issue, was the first woman elected chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1987.
Her latest book, Every Day is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women, is about key American-Indian women who made a difference in their communities.
Mary Bowannie, a visiting lecturer in Native-American studies, said she chose Mankiller as a speaker because the author was an inspiration to her.
Mankiller spoke to a crowd of about 120 in the Kiva Lecture Hall. She spoke about tribal communities, kinship, education, negative stereotypes, health care and sovereignty.
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Junior Farrell Davidson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, said he attended because he heard about her when she first became chief.
"All of the issues she brought up I pretty much already knew about in one way or another, but it was just her involvement in it and how well rounded she is with all the tribes," Davidson said. "She doesn't just focus on things from only a Cherokee perspective. She goes from the East to the West Coast about things like tribal sovereignty."
Mankiller said people often ask why American Indians are sovereign from the United States government.
She said American Indians had government before the United States was colonized and maintained those governments as part of their culture.
She told stories about her time as chief and the challenges she faced as the first female chief of an American Indian tribe.
She also spoke about the strong influence of the media and the negative way American Indians are portrayed. She said the only way to get rid of those portrayals is by actively showing people who American Indians really are.
Senior Mandy Cisneros, a member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, said she has goals that closely resemble Mankiller's accomplishments.
"I found her to be inspirational," Cisneros said. "I'd definitely like to go back to my tribal council as she did. Being that she had reformed the Cherokee government, it gives us something to strive for and know that we can do it too."
Many of Mankiller's solutions to maintaining culture and presenting positive images of American Indians dealt with educating young people about issues. She offered storytelling as an important solution, as well as being an active community member.
Mankiller said many people ask her how she can be so positive about the future after speaking about American-Indian concerns. She said they have survived a lot, and looking at their past, she can see a positive future.
"I've seen where we've been, what we've survived," Mankiller said. "It is culture that sustained us and culture that will sustain us in the future."
