Wanda Hatfield (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Claphan) is a Cherokee educator and politician who served as an At-Large Tribal Councilor for the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

from 2015 to 2019.

Career

Wanda Hatfield was born at WW Hastings Hospital in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as p ...

, and grew up in the Cherry Tree Community in

Stilwell, Oklahoma Stilwell / ᏍᏗᎳᏪᎵ is a city located in the sovereign territory of the Cherokee Nation. It is also the county seat of Adair County, Oklahoma. The population was 3,700 as of the 2020 U.S. census, a decline of 6.7 percent from the 3,949 ...

. She is the daughter of the Jack Claphan and Carolyn Doublehead Claphan. Her great-great-grandfather, Rabbit Bunch, served as the

assistant principal chief from 1880 to 1887. Hatfield graduated from

Stilwell High School Stilwell High School is a high school (grades 9–12) in Stilwell, Oklahoma, United States. In 2020, a podcast created by Stilwell High School seniors was selected as a finalist in the National Public Radio Student Podcast Challenge. The student ...

and earned a B.S. in education from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

. Hatfield married Roger Hatfield and they had one daughter. For 28 years, Hatfield taught in the Shawnee and

Mid-Del School District The Mid-Del School District is a school district based in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of 2007, the school district included more than 14,500 K-12 students. The school district has grown from four original schools to include 21 mid ...

s. In 2015, Hatfield ran for the at-large seat of the Council of the Cherokee Nation. She finished first ahead of Betsy Swimmer and

Shane Jett Shane David Jett (born December 5, 1974) is an American politician from the state of Oklahoma, who is the state senator from Senate District 17, which includes northern Pottawatomie County and eastern Oklahoma County. He was a member of the ...

. Hatfield received 1,057 votes, Swimmer 770 votes, and Jett 717 votes. She assumed the position on August 14, 2015. She succeeded Julia Coates who was term-limited. As an At-Large councilor, Hatfield represented Cherokee Nation citizens living outside the tribe's 14-county jurisdiction in

northeastern Oklahoma Green Country, sometimes referred to as Northeast Oklahoma, is the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma, which lies west of the northern half of Arkansas, the southwestern corner the way of Missouri, and south of Kansas. Alternate ...

. During her term, Hatfield was involved in sponsoring legislation, with records showing she sponsored 59 pieces of legislation during her time on the council. She ran for re-election in 2019, seeking to retain her At-Large seat. However, her campaign faced controversy when she was disqualified by the Cherokee Nation Election Commission on April 18, 2019. The disqualification came after a hearing and was related to Hatfield sending checks worth $500 to Cherokee communities in Oregon and California. Following her disqualification, Coates, who had previously held the At-Large seat, ran for the position again and won, returning to the Tribal Council in August 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatfield, Wanda Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century Native American women Members of the Council of the Cherokee Nation Women in Oklahoma politics Cherokee Nation women 21st-century Native American politicians University of Oklahoma alumni Native American educators 21st-century American women educators 21st-century American educators Schoolteachers from Oklahoma People from Stilwell, Oklahoma Native American women in politics