Wilma Mankiller fought injustice, gave a voice to the voiceless, and overcame rampant sexism and personal challenges to emerge in 1985 as the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation — the largest Native American tribe in America.

Saturday, Idaho Mythweaver and the East Bonner County Library District celebrate Native American Heritage Month with two showings of the documenmtary, “Mankiller”. Part of the Native Heritage Film Seris, two showings of the film will take place at the Sandpoint Library — the first at 12:30 p.m. and the second at 3 p.m.

The official selection of the Los Angeles Film Festival, “Mankiller” is the story of the late Wilma Mankiller — a hero and legend, one who stands tall amongst the likes of Robert Kennedy, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a child, Mankiller’s family was relocated from Oklahoma to San Francisco — part of a federal government assimilation program. Although the move was traumatic, it was in the Bay Area during the turbulent 1960s that she became involved in the fight for civil rights and joined the Alcatraz Island Occupation. Afterward, Mankiller returned to Oklahoma and her people where she was re-elected for three terms to serve as the Cherokee’s highest leader, laying important foundations for the Cherokee Nation’s current economic and cultural status as one of the most successful tribes in America.

Wilma Mankiller was known as a uniter. In 1990, she signed an unprecedented Cherokee Nation self-determination agreement with the federal government, in which the nation took control of its funding, programs and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“Mankiller”, directed by Valerie Red-Horse Mohl and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, will screen free Saturday in the Sandpoint Library’s expanded meeting room, 1407 Cedar St.. Idaho Mythweaver’s Jane Fritz lead an audience discussion about the film after each screening.