Women in Native America

Abstract

The purpose of my thesis is to explore how the everyday life of the Cherokee women is built up through the analysis of a poem, written in the newspaper of the Cherokee Phoenix and Indians’ Advocate, to discuss the autonomy of women, and taking into consideration how different factors, such as trade, war, and the forced removal influenced their position within society. I introduce Wilma Pearl Mankiller, a woman with Cherokee ancestry, with the help of a movie, The Cherokee Word for Water, who became the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation elected officially. By analyzing the movie from political, cultural, and social perspectives a picture is formed about the Cherokee Nation and how the self-help project of Mankiller helped to unify the Bell community, and how it changed the position of women.