PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT Premieres A New Four-Part Documentary Series on January 5, 2021

PBS, as part of its 50th anniversary crowdsourced storytelling project PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT, today announced that its four-part documentary series, which captures the remarkable story of 2020 through the voices of everyday people from every U.S. state and territory, premieres on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings).

PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT is the most ambitious multiplatform project in the organization's history. Since it launched in January 2020, the PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT website has collected more than 11,000 stories from people across America that, together, hope to answer the question: What does it really mean to be an American today? Millions of people visited the site throughout 2020 to explore user-submitted stories in response to a series of thought-provoking prompts and the events of 2020 in real time. These stories helped share the themes reflected in the four-part docuseries.

Produced by PBS and RadicalMedia, each of the four new hour-long programs blends stories filmed by everyday people to create a chorus of voices sharing both common and unique experiences from across the country. Each episode in the series focuses on a main theme - "I Dream," about our varied pursuits of the American Dream; "I Work," about the aspirations, struggles and satisfactions in our careers; "I Keep," about the traditions and values we hold; and "I Rise," about working to create an antiracist America. These experiences yield complex and diverse stories of what brings us together and what keeps us apart as we strive to understand one another.

"In many ways, PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT has proven to be the perfect project for a year unlike any other. We've given voice to people and communities across America at a time when so many are hoping and needing to be heard. We've been honored to serve as a platform for people to share their stories, as it is in our mission to empower audiences to achieve their potential and strengthen their communities," said Bill Margol, Executive in Charge of PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT and Senior Director, General Audience Programming and Development at PBS. "In the new series, audiences will see and hear from people across America, and our hope is that their stories will inspire each of us to continue these conversations in our homes and communities, and to see that, while there are many things that still divide us, the commonalities we share can create the dialogue we need to bring us together."

"In this time of crisis, we have been challenged in the way we interact with one another, yet, we've witnessed an incredible sense of bonding and empathy through the inspiring stories of families, friends and colleagues across the country," said Jon Kamen, CEO of RadicalMedia and Executive Producer of PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT. "These shared experiences from everyday people in America are the heart of our four-part series."

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