Overview

You probably know the story of the late Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to serve as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. You might not recognize the name of her husband, Charlie Soap, yet his role as a Native community organizer is no less significant. Combining memoir, history, and current affairs, Last One Walking charts for the first time the life and work of this influential Cherokee. In telling this story, author and former journalist Greg Shaw gives voice to his sources. As a longtime colleague and friend of the family, he draws on his many travels and interviews with Soap and on previously unpublished writings, including a Soap family history penned by Mankiller, included here as the book’s prologue. Shaw offers a rich profile of Soap’s singular career—particularly as a champion of water rights. In managing public infrastructure projects, housing assistance, and water development in the Cherokee Nation, Soap has exemplified ga-du-gi, the Cherokee word for community members working together for the collective good. Shaw portrays a dynamic partnership between Soap and Mankiller. Together they reignited community development for the Cherokee people by listening to everyone, including the poorest of the poor, and hearing their pleas for reliable water, a basic human need and a sacred element in Cherokee culture. Charlie Soap’s name in Cherokee, Ohni ai (ᎣᏂ ᎠᎢ), translates as “the last one walking.” In the Cherokee wolf clan, this is the member who trails the rest of the pack to watch for danger and opportunity. The last one walking forms a bond of trust with the pack’s leader. The Native American fight for land has been well chronicled, but the fight for water has not. Last One Walking helps to fill that void with a narrative that is also deeply moving, revealing on every page the spirit of ga-du-gi.

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9780806194721

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"“Last One Walking is by turns biography, history, and memoir, including two previously unpublished writings by Wilma Mankiller and Charlie Soap. It’s a one-of-a-kind look into the perseverance at the heart of Cherokee communities and the policy it is possible to make when communities mobilize to work together.""—Ellen Cushman (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), author of The Cherokee Syllabary: Writing the People’s Perseverance   “Wilma Mankiller’s story is stronger because of her partnership with her husband, Charlie Soap. Greg Shaw takes us to the source of this important story.”—Mark N. Trahant (Shoshone-Bannock Tribes), author of The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars: Henry M. Jackson, Forrest J. Gerard, and the Campaign for the Self-Determination of America’s Indian Tribes   “Any opportunity to spend time with Cherokee Nation legend Charlie Soap, even from afar, makes for a good day. So Last One Walking is cause to beat a drum, wave a flag, and ululu in celebration.”—Connie Cronley (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), author of A Life on Fire: Oklahoma’s Kate Barnard"

"""Last One Walking is by turns biography, history, and memoir, including two previously unpublished writings by Wilma Mankiller and Charlie Soap. It's a one-of-a-kind look into the perseverance at the heart of Cherokee communities and the policy it is possible to make when communities mobilize to work together.""--Ellen Cushman (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), author of The Cherokee Syllabary: Writing the People's Perseverance ""Any opportunity to spend time with Cherokee Nation legend Charlie Soap, even from afar, makes for a good day. So Last One Walking is cause to beat a drum, wave a flag, and ululu in celebration.""--Connie Cronley (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), author of A Life on Fire: Oklahoma's Kate Barnard ""Wilma Mankiller's story is stronger because of her partnership with her husband, Charlie Soap. Greg Shaw takes us to the source of this important story.""--Mark N. Trahant (Shoshone-Bannock Tribes), author of The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars: Henry M. Jackson, Forrest J. Gerard, and the Campaign for the Self-Determination of America's Indian Tribes"

Author Information

Oklahoma native Greg Shaw has reported for the Cherokee Advocate and served as an executive for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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