PBS - American Portrait: The Story of Us, Told by Us

AMERICAN PORTRAIT. Copyright 2021 by PBS. All rights reserved under
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Cover Submissions (L to R, Top to Bottom): Joshua B., Maxi G. / Zia N.,
Cadyn R., Malchus C., Deborah R., Jeanne R., Cowboy / Stephanie S.,
Anonymous, Lauren W., Chris C., Monique W. / Clara H., Ryan H.,
Markus H., Libby K., Tracey O., Phillip M., Watie W. / Nick B., & Adam S.

FIRST EDITION

COVER AND BOOK DESIGN BY RADICALMEDIA

Digital Edition JUNE 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-309891-6
Version 04302021
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-314339-5

I was raised to believe that the things we have in common,
the things that unite us, outnumber the differences that
can separate us. This foundational idea is at the very heart
of our mission in public television, and its why we decided
to make American Portrait the signature initiative of our 50th
anniversary celebration.

The year 2020 was extraordinary. The word unprecedented
was used over and over againso much so that we became
numb to its meaning. There are only so many times you can
be presented with something unprecedented before you
find yourself tuning out, anticipating whats next, or waiting
for the other shoe to drop.

A global pandemic. A long-overdue reckoning for systemic
racism and injustice. Political upheaval and animosity
at a level rarely, if ever, seen. Record unemployment,
disconnection from loved ones, a complete upending
of how we live, learn, and work.

And, of course, loss. The devastating loss of too many
friends, family members, neighbors.

And yet, amid the darkness... there was also light.

Fred Rogers often quoted his mother, who told him to
look for the helpers. As she said, You will always find
people who are helping. And thats exactly what we
witnessed this year. All around us, people stepped up

to help. They stepped up to heal. They stepped up to fight
for whats right. They stepped up to speak their minds.
They stepped up to comfort. They reaffirmed what I was
raised to believethat there is more that unites us than
divides us.

And American Portrait captured it all.

When PBS launched American Portrait in January 2020,
we had no idea what the year would bring. The project
began to take shape in 2017, shortly after the events in
Charlottesville, Virginia, where the divisions that were
forming in the U.S. seemed to crystallize. As the nations
public broadcaster, we felt the need to address these
divisions in some way. The question at the center of our work
was What does it really mean to be an American today?

But how do you go about answering a question that,
in and of itself, can be so polarizing?

We decided that the only way to answer such a profound
question was not actually to ask it but to instead let all of
you tell your stories (with a little help from some prompts to
start the conversation) in the hope that, together, all of those
stories would paint a more complete picture. We worked
with our local stations across the country to tap into their
communities, encouraging people to participate and seeking
to discover what issues were important to them and why.

We were off to a great start in January.
And then the whole world changed.

At first, we didnt know how the pandemic would shape
the direction of this nationwide initiative. But something
incredible happened. American Portrait , which was always
designed to reflect what was going on in the country at
any given moment, did just that. We launched new prompts
to encourage people to share their stories. I NEVER
EXPECTED... became an outlet for people to share how
the COVID-19 pandemic had upended their lives and how
they were coping with it. NOW IS THE TIME... became
a rallying cry for people to speak out against racial injustice.

People from every state and every territory joined in to
tell their stories. Some were frustrated, some were sad,
some were joyous, some were funny, some were scared
but all of them had one thing in common. They were all
open and honest. People opened their lives, told their
stories, and shared.

As I write this, nearly 14,000 stories have been shared on
the American Portrait site. What you hold in your hands is
merely a small sample of those stories. This book attempts
to capture the various ways that we all experienced 2020
the good, the bad, and everything in between. Maybe
your story is in here; maybe its not. Regardless, I believe
that there is a story (and, I hope, more than one) on
these pages that will make you think, That person is like
me for that is the key to bringing us together.

The things that unite us, and what we have in common,
will always outnumber the things that divide us. But there is
also something to be learned from our differences. By seeing
what is similar and what is different, we come to understand
each other better. It helps us recognize that every person
has a unique story, and everyone faces their personal
challenges in their own way. That recognition generates
empathy and enables us to begin to do the thing that is
so important to our ability to forge a brighter path forward:
listen to each other.

Id like to share one more thing I was raised to believe.
I was raised to believe that, together, we can do
extraordinary things. Its the cornerstone of public
broadcastingthat together we can educate, enlighten,
engage, and, in doing so, raise us all up. Together, the team
at PBS and our partners at RadicalMedia created something
unique in American Portrait : an answer to the question,
What does it really mean to be an American today?

Flip through these pages and youll find the answer.

Paula Kerger

President and CEO, PBS

Launched on January 10, 2020, PBS American Portrait ,
a national storytelling project aligned with PBSs 50th
anniversary, is the organizations most ambitious
multiplatform project in its history. A digital-first initiative
produced with RadicalMedia, American Portrait began
by engaging people across America to share their
experiences, hopes, and values by responding to thought
provoking prompts with video, photos, and text. The project
evolved to include a digital miniseries, public art installations
and murals in neighborhoods across the country,
educational materials on media and storytelling from
PBS LearningMedia, three broadcast specials in 2020,
and a highly anticipated four-part documentary series
that aired in January 2021.

Leveraging the local reach of PBS through its member
stations, PBS American Portrait presents a mosaic of our
countrys diversity by connecting tens of thousands of
people across the country by telling and sharing their own
stories. Whether it was joy or sorrow, triumph or hardship,
family traditions followed for decades or the everyday chaos