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Host: Shawn Spruce
Wilma Mankiller’s image on the U.S. quarter coin is the latest recognition for the pioneering Cherokee leader. Among her other honors was the Presidential Medal of Freedom. During the event celebrating her likeness on the quarter, current Principle Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. (Cherokee) said, years after her death, Chief Mankiller “keeps changing the world for the better”. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce looks back at Chief Mankiller’s legacy as an advocate for Cherokee people and the tribe’s first female principal chief with Chief Hoskin; Alaina Roberts (Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedman descendent), PhD, Professor at University of Pittsburgh and author of the book “I’ve Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land”; Victoria Red-Horse Mohl (Cherokee), filmmaker and director and producer of “Mankiller”; and Mary Smith (Cherokee), former chief executive of the Indian Health Service.