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.
31 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.
“What makes a life worth solving for isn't the cases closed, but the people who stayed close enough to notice.”
Dr. Li Changyu
“I don't think of what I gave up as a loss; it became an opportunity for a different kind of self-realization.”
Enya
“I never let anyone else's judgment of me become my judgment of myself.”
Lu Hong
“Diaspora identity often starts with rejection and moves, slowly, toward reclamation and celebration.”
Rebecca F. Kuang
“No label the world assigned me was ever the whole truth of who I was.”
Han Xiu
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.