At an event presented by Oregon’s Future, Wilma Mankiller shared her experience leading the Cherokee Nation in an event that also featured Indian Law expert Robert Miller of Lewis & Clark College, and Former Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse. The free lecture was held at the Whitsell Auditorium of the Portland Art Museum on Tuesday, November 29, 2005.

Oregon's Future is a nonprofit, public affairs magazine providing diverse perspectives on complex topics. The Tribal Forum strives to dispel much of the misinformation and myths surrounding Native Americans and the published forum will be available in late Fall 2005. The public event provided an in-depth exploration of the modern relationship that Native Americans have as a Nation within a Nation.

Wilma Mankiller is currently teaching at the University of Oregon as the Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics. Mankiller was the founding director of the Cherokee Nation Community Development Department, which received several national awards for innovative use of self-help in housing and water projects in low-income Cherokee communities. Then in 1983, she was elected the first female deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation and president of the tribal council. In 1987, she was elected to serve as the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and was overwhelmingly reelected in 1991. She chose not to seek reelection in 1995.

The event was sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law & Politics at University of Oregon and hosted by the Native American Art Council of the Portland Art Museum.