Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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TAHLEQUAH, OK - It was appropriate that songs and prayer were given in Cherokee on a day when the Talking Leaves Job Corps Center (TLJCC) celebrated its 21-year connection to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO). The center celebrated its 21st anniversary with a ceremony to name the center's seven main buildings after each of the seven Cherokee clans. "We honor the seven clans to re-establish the great Cherokee tradition of excellence in education," said Wayne Wallace, master of ceremonies and 21-year TLJC staff member.

Principal Chief Chad Smith told the audience that the naming ceremony was a reminder of the progress the tribe is making. He said he hopes in a few years people will hear of even more progress at the center and in the Cherokee Nation. The progress he spoke of also included Cherokee people learning more about their language, culture and arts.

Deputy Principal Chief Hastings Shade provided an explanation of the history and significance of the clan names. Shade gave a brief history of the Cherokee clan system and how it has changed since the ancient times of the Cherokee. He said the clan system is no longer honored by the Cherokee people. Before European contact, the clan was the most important affiliation Cherokees had. It gave them their place in the tribe and in their world. Clan was passed from a Cherokee mother to her children.

In the traditional matrilineal kinship system a Cherokee woman decided when and with whom to mate, but she could not marry a member of her mother's clan. They were considered blood relations, no matter how distant their actual ties. After marriage, a man took his wife's clan.

Hastings Shade also told of a time when there were 14 Cherokee clans instead of seven. Shade explained that over the course of the centuries the Cherokee combined their clans and opened them to captives and non-Indians. He said the tribe settled on the number seven to honor the seven directions: north, south, east, west, up, down, and center.

The seven Cherokee clan names for the Job Corps center buildings are: A-ni Wo-di, Paint Clan Recreation Building; A-ni Go-da-ge-wi, Wild Potato Clan Cafeteria; A-ni A-wi, Deer Clan Female Dormitory; A-ni Wa-ya, Wolf Clan Male Dormitory; A-ni Tsi-squa, Bird Clan Administration/Academic Building; A-ni Gi-lo-hi, Long Hair Clan Health Building; and A-ni Sa-ho-I, Blue Clan Vocational Building. The names are inscribed on plaques in both the Cherokee syllabary and English and were shown to the crowd who attended the ceremony.

During the ceremony, TLJC Center Director Karl Husmann and his staff were honored for recently receiving the U.S. Department of Labor's Respect Award. The award was given to TLJC for its improvements in student retention, employee involvement, Work-To-School principals, quality of student placement and establishing community ties. "We have a wonderful center here, wonderful support from the Cherokee Nation, a wonderful staff and the greatest students out of 118 Job Corps centers in the entire country," Husmann said.

Also honored was Marion Hagerstrand and her late husband Martin were also honored for their support of students and staff at Talking Leaves. Mrs. Hagerstran was presented with a plaque.

The Talking Leaves Job Corps Center was named to honor the singular achievement performed by the Cherokee linguist Sequoyah with his creation of the Cherokee syllabary in 1821. Almost overnight, the oral tradition of the Cherokee people was given an outlet in written form. This led to the publication of the first Indian newspaper in 1828, printed in both Cherokee and English. Following the adoption of a Cherokee constitution in 1839, and ever conscious of the need for education, the Cherokee immediately set about the task of building schools for the young and seminaries for older Cherokee students, male and female, as well as freedmen. At statehood in 1907, the Cherokee Nation turned over almost 100 schools to the new state of Oklahoma. It is in the spirit of this tradition that the naming ceremony is framed.