The Camel and the Scorpion is a book inspired by true events. It is the story of #StrongWomen - Caroline, Lydia, Anna - who spoke out for a good world despite the personal and professional risks to themselves in doing so.
This post is the third in my Strong Women Series. The series honors women and girls of courage.
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| Wilma Mankiller. Source: NewsOn6, 2010. |
"In a just country, she would have been elected president."
Source: Gloria Steinem
"I'm a pretty ordinary person that just happened to be given an opportunity to do extraordinary things in my life," Wilma Mankiller.
"I've done everything I could do to make everybody in the world mad at me this past four years [as chief of the Cherokee Nation]."
And that's what strong women must do - persevere on a path strewn with rocks thrown in anger.
Ms. Mankiller:
- Survived childhood destitution
- Discovered her political voice for social justice in the 1960s, during the Occupation of Alcatraz by Native Americans from a number of tribes (Indians of All Tribes)
- Recovered from a near-fatal auto crash
- Lived through three serious physical illnesses, including cancers
- Was elected as the first woman principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, serving in that capacity for 10 years
- Raised two daughters
- Wrote the best-selling book, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People
- Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
A short video homage to Wilma Mankiller below:
Women of courage like Wilma Mankiller? They are who kept me writing The Camel and the Scorpion for 20 years, so I could share the stories of women like The Camel and the Scorpion protagonists, Caroline, Lydia, and Anna.
Honorable, imperfect, brave, vulnerable champions, all of them. Risking their personal and professional lives to stand up for their ideals.
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