Discover the deep history of Indigenous Hand Talk

How the National Science Foundation helped cement the use of American Sign Language

Before the 1960s, deaf students were taught to read lips and pronounce words without signing, which was not considered a true language. After noticing that students nonetheless signed when communicating, American linguist William Stokoe conducted NSF-funded research that showed that signing met the definition of oral languages, thus establishing ASL.

The US government ran boarding schools designed to erase Native American identity

From the late 19th century into the 20th century, the federal government sent Native children to boarding schools under the philosophy of "kill the Indian, save the man." Children were forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing their cultures, and many endured abuse.

Native voices share their histories along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

Tribal historians recount their peoples' histories and perspectives on the Lewis and Clark expedition, offering an Indigenous narrative of the lands, encounters, and legacies that shaped the journey.

Native students fought back against forced assimilation at US boarding schools

Despite harsh conditions, Native American students preserved their identities by secretly speaking their languages, maintaining cultural practices, and, in some cases, running away.

See Harvard’s early history through Indigenous voices

Founded in 1636, Harvard University grew alongside English colonization in Wampanoag lands. In this online exhibit, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology highlights Indigenous voices, interpreting objects such as eel traps and grass baskets.

Explore a map of global native lands

This interactive map visualizes Indigenous territories across the world. Users can search by location, language, or tribe to explore the histories, cultures, and present-day communities connected to specific lands.

There are more than 300 separate sign languages worldwide

Each of these languages has its own grammar, vocabulary and cultural associations. American Sign Language, the predominant Deaf language in the US, is part of the broader French Sign Language family, which means it shares historical influences and similarities with French Sign Language (which is called LSF). International Sign is a simplified, makeshift form of communication that borrows from many languages, and it's used at international deaf conferences, among other locations.

More than 300 distinct Native American languages existed at the time of European contact

Indigenous North America exhibited vast linguistic diversity, with over 300 languages spanning dozens of unrelated language families. This variety reflected centuries of distinct cultural development across the continent's many nations and regions.

How the Inca used threads to communicate

One of the great mysteries of ancient Peru is that the Inca did not have a system of writing, but communicated with a system of strings tied with knots. This 4-minute video explores its possible uses.

A 1975 law let tribes run their own programs instead of relying on federal bureaucracies

The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act allowed tribes to contract directly with the federal government to administer their own health, education, and social services—reversing policies from the "termination era."

Native religious practices were suppressed for centuries before receiving federal protection in 1978

During the first two centuries of American history, the government frequently banned Native ceremonial dances, took sacred sites, and enrolled children in boarding schools where they were prevented from practicing their faith. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 committed the federal government to safeguarding Native spiritual practices.

The Red Power movement pushed back against poverty and broken treaty rights in the 1960s and 1970s

Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Indigenous activists founded the American Indian Movement, a national advocacy organization, to protest excessive police violence and federal violations of treaty rights, drawing national attention to conditions on reservations.

Some tribes push for national parks to be under Indigenous control

Ojibwe author and academic David Treuer talks about his push for 80 million acres of American national park land to be returned to Indigenous stewards. Treuer proposes the government grant control of this land to a consortium of tribes, which would maintain and manage it for use by all Americans.

Native Americans built democratic systems of governance

Indigenous nations, such as the Muscogee, a confederacy of towns in the present-day Southeast, practiced participatory governance centered on communal decision-making and the consent of the governed.

Learn to speak the ancient Aztec language Nahuatl

Across the Aztec Empire, you'd be met with variants of Nahuatl, the indigenous language still spoken by approximately 1.5 million people today. This free, self-paced online university course teaches the Veracruz variant, beginning from the language's "piltlahcuiloltzitzin"—or alphabet—to how to conduct specific "tlamachtiliztli" or ceremonies.

Native Americans developed pottery and religion, and experienced population growth during the Woodland period

Between 500 B.C.E. and 1100 C.E., Indigenous peoples produced pottery and practiced animism, a spiritual worldview in which animals, plants, and natural forces are believed to possess sacred power. They moved seasonally to make the most of available resources.

A deaf college football quarterback may have invented the huddle, so teams could not steal their signs.

Native American tribes still are waiting for museums to return the remains of their ancestors

The remains of more than 100,000 Native Americans are held by prestigious US institutions, despite a 1990 law meant to return them to tribal nations. Here’s how their ancestors were stolen—and how tribes are working to get them back.

Using AI to rewrite and revive Aztec tales

Despite being vanquished by the conquering Spaniards in the 16th century, the Aztecs' culture endured through their descendants and rituals, as well as texts that escaped destruction at the hands of the Europeans. These texts, known as codices and preserved in part by Christian monks, revealed intimate details of life as an Aztec in the Middle Ages. Today, AI programs allow students to learn the Aztec's language, Nahuatl, further preserving their heritage.

'All My Relations' is a podcast by 2 Native women exploring what it means to be Indigenous today

Hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Temryss Lane (Lummi Nation), the show explores topics ranging from sovereignty and identity to food, fashion, and climate justice from a personal Indigenous lens.

Language is evolution's great mystery

What we call language is something more specific than communication. Language is about sharing what's in our minds: stories, opinions, questions, the past or future, imagined times or places, ideas. So what does language mean for humanity, and how did we come to have it? Watch this brief video to discover more.

Cochlear implants are raising questions about deaf identity and culture

The rise of cochlear implants, which are usually covered by insurance and can enable hearing for many patients, raises questions about what it means to be deaf, the effects on deaf individuals learning American Sign Language, and about deaf culture. Watch this video that discusses the controversies and spotlights a little girl who hears for the first time with her cochlear implant.

Tattoos suppressed during colonization are experiencing a revival

A few decades ago, the distinct facial tattoos worn by Maori people were on the brink of disappearing. Then, Maori artists brought the cultural practice back into the spotlight. This TVNZ story follows one reporter’s mother as, at 59 years old, she receives tā moko from a Maori artist.

'Skin stitching' is an ancient tattoo method that's made a comeback

In the slow method, artists use needles to puncture the skin. Then, pigmented thread is drawn through the punctures to create the tattoo, resembling embroidery in the flesh. The method is experiencing a cultural revival within Canada’s First Nations communities.

One Native leader tried to save his people's land by building a nation

As the US pushed westward in the 19th century, one leader of the Ojibwe people fought back not with arms but with politics, seeking to preserve his people's territory and way of life by building a formal Native nation capable of negotiating on equal footing with the US government.

An Aztec skull whistle discovered in the 1990s was mistaken for a toy

In the late 1990s, archaeologists unearthed a sacrificed man clutching two skull-shaped clay whistles at a Mexico City temple to the wind god Ehecatl (eh-HEH-kahtl). Initially dismissed as toys, the instruments produce a scream-like sound that modern brain scans show triggers fear and urgency responses in listeners. This podcast explores the discovery.

The sports competition developed on the Alaskan tundra

Alaska's NYO Games invite high school athletes from the state's over 270 indigenous tribes to compete in numerous events based on survival tactics developed by their ancestors. This short documentary from Great Big Story walks through some of the more grueling events and speaks with the Games' coaches and young athletes about how the event preserves their shared culture.

The Corps traded gifts with many native tribes as a sign of goodwill

They offered peace medals, beads, cloth, and mirrors, while receiving food, horses, furs, and guidance that helped them navigate and survive the western wilderness. This image collection showcases items the expedition collected.

The Indigenous people of the central Californian coast made many advancements

The Indigenous people of the central Californian coast made advancements in basketry, small stone tools, the use of shell beads as currency, and plank canoes for seafaring. In the years before European contact, their numbers reach 25,000 across 150 settlements.

Ready to try reading some Maya hieroglyphics?

The Mayan hieroglyphic script was the only true writing system developed in the Americas prior to European colonization. Examples of the millennia-old script have been discovered on stone pillars, pottery, and texts known as codices. Here’s a Maya writing system study guide for the high achievers among us.

Maya writing was the first actual script in the Americas

The ancient Maya developed the Americas’ earliest complete writing system, which was preserved on ceramics, stone, textiles, shells, and in surviving texts. Though much was destroyed, the remaining artifacts offer a rare insight into Maya literary culture through a virtual tour

Audism is institutionalized discrimination against deaf people

Promoting the idea of hearing-at-all-costs in medical and education settings has created division in the deaf community and influenced decisions about learning sign language.

Early Native Americans shifted from nomadic life to permanent settlements around 8500 B.C.E.

Around 8500-7900 B.C.E., many Indigenous groups began settling near rivers and lakes to harvest fish and hunt bison, moving away from a fully nomadic lifestyle. This shift toward semipermanent communities marks one of the earliest signs of organized settlement in North America.

Button boards may be the next step in human-canine communication

In a viral trend, dogs have been recorded using button boards to seemingly "talk" with humans. Researchers are divided on whether this means dogs have learned language or are engaging in sophisticated behavioral conditioning.

Crowds used a thumb gesture to decide whether a gladiator lived or died

This explainer unpacks pollice verso, the hand signal spectators used to call for a gladiator’s execution. Ancient sources never specify the direction; evidence suggests that the thumb was likely turned up or thrust toward the throat, not down.

How to conserve a Yup'ik mask

The Met’s YouTube channel is a treasure trove of information about the museum and its collections. In this short video, conservationist Caitlin Mahony works with Yup’ik dancer Chuna McIntyre to understand the significance and proper display of a native Alaskan mask that’s over a century old. McIntyre helps illuminate the stories behind many of the mask’s decorative elements and explains how it would be used in traditional Yup’ik ceremonies.

Afterlife traditions help some humans process death

Watch this video discussing concepts of the afterlife presented through an anthropological lens about one family's experience and traditions passed down from one generation to another.

See a timeline of colonial settlement in North America.

Decoding the Indus Valley script

About 100 years ago, archaeologists uncovered an ancient city along the bank of the Indus River in eastern Pakistan that dated back to 2,500 BCE, though its urban planning, grid-like roads, brick-lined streets, multi-story homes, and sanitation and...

A 1990 law forced museums and federal agencies to return Native remains and sacred objects

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act required federally funded institutions to inventory and return Native American human remains and sacred items to descendant tribes.

A look at historical ciphers, from the Spartan 'scytale' to the Navajo Code Talkers

From the Greek word for "hidden writing," cryptography in Ancient Greece took the form of batons around which a long strip of leather or parchment was wrapped, after which messages were written. Recipients needed a scytale of the correct width to encircle received ribbons and reveal the message. Members of the Navajo Nation created a code that remained unbroken throughout its use in World War II.

The Chumash manufactured shell beads for thousands of years, eventually as money

The practice was unique to the Chumash among North American Indians. Some researchers have made the case theirs was the first use of money on the continent.

The Wampanoag Nation inhabited the northeastern coast of North America for 12,000 years before European contact killed an estimated two-thirds of their population in a single generation.

The creation of the parks often involved displacing Native tribes

Early parks like Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite involved the removal of tribal communities like the Shoshone, Crow, and Nez Percé, undermining the popular narrative that parks preserved an uninhabited wilderness.

The Archaic period marked Native Americans' shift from big-game hunting to foraging

Beginning around 8000 B.C.E., Indigenous peoples began relying on diverse food sources—including wild game, plants, seeds, and fish—and moved away from large-mammal hunting. Archaeological findings from this era suggest some communities began cultivating crops and establishing irrigation systems, indicating a shift toward less-nomadic lifestyles.

Learn about the long and contested history of free speech in America

This podcast examines how American free speech protections evolved—from the Founders' debates to landmark Supreme Court rulings—and why the country arrived at one of the most expansive speech regimes in the world.

Sequoyah single-handedly invented a writing system for the Cherokee language

Without formal education, Cherokee citizen Sequoyah spent more than a decade in the early 1800s developing an 86-character syllabary—a writing system in which each symbol represents a spoken syllable—for the Cherokee language. Within a few years, most Cherokees could read and write it.

The history of the British Empire—all in a single take

This video delivers a rapid, rhyming walk-through of the British Empire—filmed in one continuous shot aboard a sailing ship and featuring costumed actors portraying figures from Sir Francis Drake to Pocahontas.

Indigenous women crafted the integrated circuits for the Apollo Guidance Computer

Applying their blanket-weaving skills, over 1,000 Navajo women in New Mexico were hired to connect circuit components in intricate patterns using a microscope. Outside Boston, "rope mothers" at the Raytheon facility wove the AGC's core memory using threaded metal wires.

In 2023, Native Americans had the lowest life expectancy at birth among all racial and ethnic groups

Native Americans and Alaska Natives face significant health disparities linked to chronic underinvestment in reservation health infrastructure, poverty, and multigenerational psychological harm—often called historical or inherited trauma.