Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Native Americans are believed to be the creators of the world's first sign languages, with records of their fully-formed communication system tracing back to the first known contacts between Europeans and Native Americans – a sign-based language that allowed tribes to communicate with each other regardless of their own spoken language. Representatives of a dozen tribes from the Plains, Plateau, and Basin cultural areas across North America gathered in Browning, Montana from 4-6 September 1930 for a council on the preservation of their sign language. US General Hugh Scott, who knew the language, presided as a translator and filmed the tribal representatives demonstrating their sign language. This film was funded by an act of the US Congress.
Native Americans are believed to be the creators of the world's first sign languages, with records of their fully-formed communication system tracing back to the first known contacts between Europeans and Native Americans – a sign-based language that allowed tribes to communicate with each other regardless of their own spoken language. Representatives of a dozen tribes from the Plains, Plateau, and Basin cultural areas across North America gathered in Browning, Montana from 4-6 September 1930 for a council on the preservation of their sign language. US General Hugh Scott, who knew the language, presided as a translator and filmed the tribal representatives demonstrating their sign language. This film was funded by an act of the US Congress.
