Hensley and Mankiller

¶ … Fifty Miles Tomorrow, terms After one becomes familiar with all of the relevant primary source autobiographies that exist for Wilma Mankiller, William Hensley, and Geronimo, it greatly appears that in terms of culture shock, Hensley had more in common with Mankiller than with Geronimo. There are a number of salient reasons as to why this assertion is true. The first of these pertains to the time period in which these individuals lived. Hensley and Mankiller were both born at the midway point of the 20th century.

Geronimo, however, was born in the early part of the 19th century. Although Hensley was born in Alaska and Mankiller was born in the continental U.S., the two both lived through and experienced the same zeitgeist. The thoughts, actions and sentiments of the time period in which Geronimo was born, however, was much different than those factors as they applied to the other pair in the 20th century.

In regards to culture shock, then, the fact that there was a great degree of assimilation and integration between Native American cultures and Westernized ones helped to reduce the sort of culture shock that the aforementioned pair felt in regards to that experienced by Geronimo. This fact is directly alluded to in the fact that Hensley was born with both a traditional Native American Alaskan name and a westernized one (Hensley, 2008, p. 12).

There is actually an immense amount of significance in this fact, which implies that during the epoch in which both Mankiller and Hensley grew up, there was some degree of forced acceptance between Native Americans and Westerners. This degree of acceptance was not present during Geronimo's era, however, as Native Americans still routinely engaged in martial acts against Westerners. Thus, virtually all facets of the cultural experience of Mankiller and Hensley (particularly in relation to Westerners) was more similar than that between Hensley and Geronimo.

There are some similarities and some differences in the political careers of Wilma Mankiller and William Hensley. Additionally, there are some differences and similarities in the way that these two individuals first began to pursue politics. It is worth noting that both of these Indian political leaders are well educated and well-versed in Western ways and traditions, which contributed to their emergence among their people as political leaders.

Probably the most striking similarity in the way that these Native Americans became political leaders is the fact that they had a profound love for their people and for the that people's culture. As a child, Mankiller (date) developed a true affinity for the history of the Cherokee people (p. 44). Mankiller made an effort to learn the history not only of her immediate forbears, but also of her tribe in general. That knowledge led to a pride in this history which would eventually manifest itself politically.

Hensley shared this interest for the history of his people, Alaskan Native Americans. He was raised in this part of the United States and states that one of his favorite pastimes as a child was to "dig for artifacts" (Hensley, 2008, p. 61) of his native people that existed beneath the soil. This habit would eventually spawn an interest and love for this history, which would come to evince itself in his political endeavors.

The chief difference in the way that these people fostered an interest in politics related to the notion of gender. Mankiller was prompted to take a political stance not only as a Cherokee, but as a female Cherokee Native American. She has been renowned for this aspect of her political career, and is as much a symbol of women's rights as she is for Native Americans. There were really no true gender ramifications of Hensley's political career, however.

Hensley's experience is related to that of Mankiller's in that both of them are Native Americans living in a society in which their people have been displaced. This fact has figured very prominently in their respective lives and in what each of these people has chosen to do with their respective lives. Part of the displacement that is shared in common between the Cherokee and their Alaskan counterparts involves an assimilation and blending of their cultures with that of Western society.

As such, both of these individuals has developed a bicultural perspective that has played a strong role in their decisions to become political activists largely for the sake of.