Only recently have researchers had the opportunity and/or courage to expose and share information that expands and often contradicts our view of the past. Only recently have we realized that our previous information (which directed our achievements and inspired our values) was very often incomplete, distorted, and sometimes manipulated. Furthermore, it seems to have misrepresented EVERYONE: the powerless and the powerful, the protesters and the facilitators, the needy and the greedy. However, most of us have had neither the time nor the opportunity to ponder the effects of releasing our former assumptions (upon which we based our hopes and goals) and accepting our new awareness. And yet, curiosity about the past abounds, as does the desire to understand the connection between the past, the present, and the future.

AMERICAN TRUTHS seeks to feed this curiosity and guide that understanding in a way that fits into our busy individual lifestyles and/or accommodates another current desire -- to interact with each other in meaningful ways. Our Audio Programs are designed for the convenience of listening alone and/or for the sharing experience of listening with a group. Our Course Books are designed to explore the connections between the controversies, debates, frustrations, and struggles of the past to those of the present, and therefore to those of the future.

But besides being user-friendly and encouraging interaction, we want you to trust the information we present. So, to be accessible, useful, and credible, we have combined two ways of sharing information: one is the Oral Tradition of most Indigenous American Cultures, and the other is the Written Tradition relied on by most European-American Cultures. We relate the historical events, dilemmas, and debates of the past by quoting primary sources, meaning the Written and Documented Words of those who were alive then - those people whose goals, theories, protests, and debates wrestled to shape the past 500 years of the Western Hemisphere: European explorers, entrepreneurs, theorists, speculators, jounalists, colonists; and Indigenous People who - before, during, and after the Eurpoean domination - left us their thoughts and feelings in poems, prose, letters, and interviews. We are inspired to make this information available and meaningful through the Native Oral Tradition in which skills of eloquent speaking and careful listening were and are based on mutual respect, and a desire to communicate effectively and understand completely.

We also offer the Indigenous Perspective (past and present) as a precedent and a choice from which we can learn and draw inspiration as we look to a future beyond our mis-informed past. Hopefully our curiosity, increased awareness, and new understanding will create a desire and commitment for a world in which every one of us is respected, thriving, and enjoying life.

American Truths is a program of The American Truths Foundation, Inc., whose Mission Statement is the following:

The American Truths Foundation develops and supports a broad range of historical, scientific, cultural, and educational pursuits that display and promote interaction, understanding, and respect among peoples.