Indian Sign Language Council (1930).webm

Fragments of an American documentary film on the Plains Indians Sign Language. According to Jeffrey Davis in Hand Talk: Sign Language among American Indian Nation , the project of this film was funded and completed in 1930 by an Act of the U.S. Congress. The Indian Sign Language Conference was filmed September 4-6, 1930, in Browning, Montana. This event was the largest intertribal meeting of Indian chiefs,elders, medicine men, and other representatives ever filmed. There were eighteen official participants, including representatives from a dozen different tribes and language groups from the Plains, Plateau, and Basin cultural areas. Following the opening signed remarks by General Scott, each representative signed their name, tribal affiliation, and introductory comments. Hugh Scott provided voice-over translation for all of the proceedings in 1931, which were professionally dubbed into the film during the subsequent production stages [1] [2] .