250 stories. 250 years. One nation, still becoming.
To mark America's 250th anniversary, Story of US is collecting 250 personal stories from individuals across the country. Each one reflects a family's journey, an identity, and what belonging in America has meant. Together they form a living portrait of the nation at its milestone moment.
No nation begins as a certainty.
It begins as a bet.
Two hundred fifty years ago, a small group of people bet that ordinary citizens could govern themselves better than any king. It was not a safe bet. It is still not finished. But the bet held, and word of it traveled: that where you start does not have to determine where you end. That belonging could be built, not just inherited.
36 of 250 collected so far, from 5 states. The portrait is just beginning.
Every dot is a person.
Stories land on the map where their tellers live, city by city, state by state. Follow a dot far enough and it becomes a family, a kitchen, a language, a life.
Not one story told 250 times.
250 different stories that happen to share an address. A few of them, first.
“Nobody arrives at meaningful work through a straight line; my job is to help people hear their honest answer.”
Pam Yang
“Repairing is always harder than destruction, and always worth doing anyway.”
Yan Li
“I never let anyone else's judgment of me become my judgment of myself.”
Lu Hong
“No label the world assigned me was ever the whole truth of who I was.”
Han Xiu
“Understanding across cultures happens when we sit with someone else's difficulty instead of walking past it.”
Wu Qingyun
Your story belongs here.
The form takes 10 to 15 minutes. There are no wrong answers, and our team follows up before anything goes live.