Native Language & History – Montana Tribal Nations Live Website: https://project4original-zeta.vercel.app/ A respectful, community-driven digital platform dedicated to preserving Montana’s Indigenous languages, educating about tribal histories and treaties, and sharing stories from Montana’s 12 tribal nations across 7 reservations. Created by:
Leon Birdhat – Computer Science major with a minor in Native Studies Luka Derry – Computer Science major with a minor in U.S. History
Both students at Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana. Mission To support Indigenous language revitalization and cultural education by providing accessible resources on languages, treaty history, sovereignty, and community stories.
Site Structure & Features Homepage
Powerful hero section with the tagline: “Preserving. Learning. Honoring Montana’s First Languages.” Key statistics about Montana’s tribal nations. Inspirational quote by Marcus Garvey. Three clickable feature cards leading to Learn, History, and Stories.
Learn (html/learn.html)
Hero section encouraging users to explore tribal nations. Tribe Selector Grid featuring all 8 nations with: English name + Indigenous name (e.g., Crow Nation / Apsáalooke) Representative images Status: “Language hub in development”
New Feature (March 2026): Interactive Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL) modal. Trigger: “Watch PISL Demonstration” box. Opens a centered modal embedding the video: James Wooden Legs – ASL vs PISL Auto-plays on open, fully stops on close, accessible (keyboard + click-outside support).
Future plans: Full language hubs with vocabulary, audio, phrases, and translation tools for each nation. History (html/culture.html)
In-depth exploration of treaties that shaped Montana’s tribal nations (Fort Laramie 1851/1868, Hellgate 1855, Lame Bull 1855, etc.). Profiles of tribal leaders and resilience. Explanations of sovereignty, reserved rights (hunting, fishing, water), and impacts of allotment policies. Embedded Native Land Digital interactive map for educational purposes. Section on modern cultural resilience.
Stories
Stories Overview (html/stories.html): Introduction + links to browse or submit stories. Community Submissions (html/community.html): Dynamic, filterable grid of user-submitted stories. Filters by Tribe, Category (Landscapes, Lineage, Creation Story, Personal, Community, etc.), and sorting options. Stories load live from a Google Sheet. Each card includes title, description, tags, and link to full story (PDF/file).
Share Your Story: Submit via the Google Form. Submissions are reviewed before publication.
How to Contribute
Submit a Story: Use the form on the Stories page. Language Resources: Share vocabulary, audio recordings, phrases, or other materials via email. Feedback & Ideas: We welcome respectful suggestions to improve the site.
Contact Leon Birdhat birdhatl43@gmail.com Computer Science • Native Studies Minor Luka Derry luka.derry@example.com Computer Science • U.S. History Minor Montana State University – Bozeman, Montana
Developer Information For New Developers:
Recommended IDE: IntelliJ IDEA Deployment: Vercel (automatic deploys from GitHub) Current Production Link: https://project4original-zeta.vercel.app/
Key Backend Links (Request access from Luka if needed)
Story Submission Form: Google Form Google Sheet (Stories data): Link Google Apps Script (JSON endpoint): Link
Dev Resources
User Guide: Google Doc Dev Stories Page Guide: Google Doc
Dev Log: 02/19/26 Added files I'd worked on seperatly, cleaned up files, altered more of the site to fit our purposes. Got separate hosting set up.
02/26 Research and Treaty pdf's uploaded
Dev Log: 02/27 2 hours of frontend development, styled pages and added features to treaties.
Dev Log: 03/05 Updated github to vercel domain. new project domain https://project4backup.vercel.app
03/05 Added file upload function, added copyable code snippet to user guide
Dev Log: 03/06 Had to work around owner restrictions to keep public host(vercel) synced with github main project repo. Forked into 423S26/project4 to a personal repo as a work around this issue. New Link: https://project4original-zeta.vercel.app/
Dev Log: 03/27
Tech Stack
HTML5, CSS3 (with custom responsive styles in global.css, index.css, learn.css, hist.css, stories.css, etc.) Vanilla JavaScript (navigation, filters, modal, dynamic story loading) Google Sheets + Apps Script for community stories Deployed on Vercel
Respectful Use This project aims to honor Montana’s tribal nations. All content is shared with the intention of supporting language preservation and cultural education. Please use the site and its resources with care and respect.
Thank you for visiting and supporting this work. Every contribution helps keep Montana’s Indigenous languages and histories alive for future generations.
Next Steps (Suggestions)
Complete individual language hubs for each tribe. Add more community stories and oral histories. Expand interactive elements (e.g., more sign language gestures, simple translation tools).
Link to Recorded Presentation demo: https://youtu.be/6dE3syBP048