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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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...

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.

School integration is designed to improve student outcomes

This American Life follows a Missouri district’s court-ordered integration program that dramatically improved achievement gaps, revealing how desegregation remains an effective yet underused education reform.

Explore the social and cultural history of the Mexican-American War

Historian Peter Guardino joins host Don Wildman to explore how the war shaped ordinary lives on both sides of the border. Drawing from The Dead March, the episode reveals how culture, class, and ideology shaped the conflict and its consequences.

Matrilineal societies—where women led households—were common among Northeastern natives

Such societies also viewed women as leaders in spiritual matters. Both men and women held political roles as clan leaders and worked in tandem with an advisory council.

Humans have used geothermal resources for thousands of years

In North America, Indigenous peoples viewed hot springs as sacred places and used them for medicinal purposes, cooking, and surviving cold weather. The ancient Greeks and Romans also viewed them as sacred, partaking in hot mineral baths to relieve ailments and using them for space heating.

An interactive history of Calypso, the Caribbean protest music genre

Before reggae and ska in the US, there was calypso, a protest genre developed in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1800s. This resource brings together images, descriptions, audio, and videos to teach you the origins of a massively influential musical genre.

Foghorn honks helped duckbills set the mood

Examining the unique crest of the Parasaurolophus, which researchers think allowed the creatures to emit loud, unique vocalizations as part of their social interactions.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones in communities in West Africa have hampered Ebola responses.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

Firework or sparkler burns, even if they cover a relatively small area of skin, can significantly affect our range of motion.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.