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Tahlequah, OK - Exciting things are happening in the world of tribal education and the Cherokee Heritage Center is one entity taking the lead. The Cherokee Clemente Course offered at the Cherokee Heritage Center is made after a humanities class offered in New York City to impoverished students. Earl Shorris instituted the original Clemente course to offer humanites to people of lower income brackets since the humanities has traditionally been reserved for wealthier people.

The Cherokee Clemente Class is free to students and offers Cherokee language and studies in Cherokee humanities through native stories, history and philosophy. With the establishment of the Pan American Indian Humanities Center last year, Native American scholars now have a communication and education center to maintain indigenous centered classes. One of the most esteemed indigenous scholars, Miguel Leon Portilla, praises the Pan American Indian Humanities Center's establishment in the internationally distributed journal Nahuatl Cultural Studies. He explains the center is a strong move for the promotion of indigenous education thereby promoting cultural and political self-determination.

This year the board members of the Pan American Indian Humanities Center will hold their conference at the Cherokee Heritage Center on April 17-19. There are events associated with the conference to which the public is invited. If you have any further questions, please contact Anne Woodward, Conference Coordinator, at the Cherokee Heritage Center, phone: 918-456-6007 or toll free, phone: 888-999-6007. For online information visit or send email to info@cherokeeheritage.org .