The US at 250: A Native Perspective is a new series from Your Call that exposes the real history behind America’s founding, from stolen lands to erased stories, centering the voices of the Indigenous peoples who’ve endured for centuries.

As the United States marks 250 years, the Trump administration is whitewashing history by embracing the Doctrine of Discovery, a 15th-century legal principle that authorized European explorers to claim lands already inhabited by Indigenous peoples, effectively erasing their sovereignty and laying the groundwork for the deaths of millions of Indigenous peoples through conquest, displacement, and disease.

During his 2026 State of the Union address, Donald Trump repeated a longstanding myth of frontier conquest, saying, “We carved paths through an an unforgiving wilderness, settled a boundless frontier, and tamed the beautiful but very, very dangerous wild west. From empty marshes and wide-open plains, we raised up the world's greatest cities.”

This frames US history as heroic conquest, erasing the experiences of those who lived on these lands long before settlers arrived. Our series pushes back on this longstanding narrative.

The US at 250 will center Native historians, storytellers, elders, and activists to tell the history and stories often left out of textbooks and media coverage. Our first guest, historian Ned Blackhawk, asks “How can a nation founded on the homelands of dispossessed Indigenous peoples be the world’s most exemplary democracy?”

We will discuss the truth behind the so-called founding of the United States and celebrate the strength and resilience of its first peoples.