AWTT Focusing on Narrative Activism

Moses Harriet Tubman Awtt Portrait

The job of AWTT is to tell people, especially young people, true stories, stories that allow them to act forjustice, stories that give them permission to work for the common good, stories that call out their couragerather than prey on their fears and insecurities and prejudices. We want to tell people stories that inspire them […]

Seeking the Balance: Individual vs. Community

Dwight Eisenhower Awtt Portrait

On a recent trip to the Canadian Maritimes, I was struck by the awareness of “others” that I witnessed. It was not the typical “let me hold the door for you” or general offers of assistance when we were lost. No, it was an awareness of the types of behaviors we need to promote so […]

Edward Snowden: The Asymmetry of Courage

Edward Snowden Awtt Portrait

One of the ironies of warfare is that an apparently vastly superior force can be defeated by an apparently much weaker one when the weaker force refuses to meet the more powerful on its own terms, play by its rules, square of army to army, submit to punch and counterpunch. A combination of strategy and […]

Across the Partisan Divide: A Curious Encounter with My Senator, Susan Collins

Terry Tempest Williams Black And White Resized

On the first leg of a trip last week to work at the Maxwell School for Citizenship at the University of Syracuse, I flew from Bangor, Maine, to Washington, D.C. Sitting across from me in aisle two was one of Maine’s senators, Susan Collins, a woman of enormous power, seniority and prestige in the Republican […]

Report from Louisville: August 28-30, 2012

Muhammad Ali Awtt Portait

For many years Americans Who Tell the Truth has had a special relationship with the city, the people and the schools of Louisville, Kentucky. The last week of August this year marked one of the highpoints. On August 30 , The Muhammad Ali Center opened an exhibit of AWTT portraits titled “Muhammad Ali and the […]

Labor Day, 2012: Thank Goodness Labor is its Own Reward!

New,york,city,,new,york/usa,march,2,,2020,workers,against

A couple of nights ago I had dinner with friends I have known for a long time. I think all of them – an inner city teacher, an artist, a retired doctor – would describe themselves as liberals. I would not describe them as progressive thinkers – not a litmus test – but I would […]

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