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As a culture, we often depict the lives of American Indians when they lived free on the land in movies and television. Have you ever noticed in those movies, when the Indian communicates, there seems to be a heavy emphasis on hand signals and sign language? And as the story unfolds, the “Indian guide” or the hero of the story who makes peace between the two peoples often does so using signs and body gestures which he then has to interpret for the audience. Of course television and movies sometimes did a poor job of showing the cultures of these great peoples who were native to this land long before the Europeans showed up. Often the actors who played Indians in these shows had no Native American blood so you wonder if the signage they show is also just another dramatic device to make Indians look exotic and mysterious. It might be surprising to find out that some of the ways that Indians are portrayed in the movies has some basis in fact and that is true about how they communicated long before they had to talk to European peoples. Each Native American tribe that dwelt where our states now are had a very unique culture and language that were as distinct as the Germans are from the Chinese. Because the distances between where the tribes lived were relatively far off, the languages of the Native American tribes were distinct and often not understood between the tribes. If you studied Native American history in school, you also know that the tribes of North American were “nomadic” meaning they moved their place of habitat based on the weather, how much food could be found, disease or perhaps the abundance of enemies in one locale. So even though the tribes were separate cultures, they did come across each other on the plains from time to time. But contrary to the movies, many times these meetings were friendly and mutually supportive because both tribes had similar challenges in making their way in a sometimes hostile environment. The need for occasional communication across tribes is one reason that Native American sign language came into being because signing made it possible to interact with members of other tribes on these infrequent meetings. Signing was very helpful as the chiefs and leaders of the tribe talked through conflicts and negotiated so the tribes could live near each other in peace. It is possible that many times when tribes could communicate, it avoided war and gave different peoples the ability to help each other and so keep the culture alive from year to year. But historians and linguists have learned that the sign language used between tribes had many daily uses within tribal life as well. Many times Native Americans developed the sign language of the tribe so they could interact when the spoken word was not a good idea like when they were hunting or spying on enemies. Learning about and thinking about how Native Americans lived before Europeans came along is educational and fun too. And it helps to understand the importance of sign language to leadership and the normal Indian man and woman because this tool helped them live healthier, more productive and peaceful lives. And a great thing about learning more about how important communications methods were used by Native Americans is it makes you a more intelligent friend if you meet or already know someone from this culture. And any time we can understand other cultures more, it makes us better people too.