Browning

Located in central Montana and known for its very high winds, Browning is the only incorporated town on the Blackfeet reservation and serves as the tribal headquarters. Browning is the home of the Museum of the Plains Indian, which showcases the history, culture, artifacts, and artistic abilities of the Northern Great Plains tribes.

Browning is the site of the non-profit Blackfeet Community College, which incorporates traditions and culture study in its courses and prepares students with skills needed in the community, such as teachers, nurses, business management, technology, etc. Browning's innovative Moccasin Flat School was founded by Blackfeet educators Darrell Kipp and Dorothy Still Smoking for the purpose of reviving the Blackfeet language among the people. Native American languages were stifled (at least 150 have been totally lost) by the US government's push to eradicate Indian culture. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, children forced into boarding schools were punished for speaking their native tongues. The Blackfeet language, spoken by only a few elders, hovered on the edge of extinction in the 1980s when Kipp and Still Smoking conceived of an immersion school. With Edward Little Plume, a rancher fluent in the language, they founded the Piegan Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching, preserving, and promoting the Blackfeet language. A decade later, after much study and focused work, the Institute opened the Moccasin Flat School. Children attend the school starting at age three and soon learn to speak Blackfeet. They, in turn, teach their parents. In time, the language will be revived as a vibrant foundation for cultural revival. The Moccasin Flat School serves as a model for other tribes.