Frequently Asked Questions

General

• What is PBS American Portrait?
  PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT is a national storytelling initiative that seeks to define what it means to be an American today. To answer this question, PBS and its partners gathered photos, videos and text submissions from an array of Americans. The initiative also includes stories from PBS Digital Studios that will stream as a companion miniseries, a documentary series inspired by user submissions, live event experiences, and educational materials for classrooms across the country.
• What inspired this initiative?
  PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT was inspired in part by Edward Steichen’s historic 1955 exhibition “The Family of Man.” While Steichen’s historic exhibit featured photographs taken around the world by professional photographers, AMERICAN PORTRAIT consists of videos, photos and text created by the public.
• How does PBS American Portrait work?
  PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT is a national storytelling initiative that will live across multiple platforms. In 2019-2021, people across the nation were invited to submit their unique stories by responding to a series of thought-provoking prompts. For each prompt, a user responded by submitting a video, a photograph, a drawing/illustration or text. Here are the prompts currently being used by the initiative:

  • I was raised to believe…
  • The tradition I carry on is…
  • What keeps me up at night is…
  • When I step outside my door…
  • Most days I feel…
  • A day’s work is…
  • My greatest challenge is…
  • My parent(s) wanted me to…
  • My Saturday night looks like…
  • My American story started when…
  • You don’t know what it’s like to…
  • What gets me out of bed in the morning is…
  • The people I relate to are…
  • I took a risk when…
  • I never expected…
  • When this is over…
  • Now is the time…
  • Family looks like…
  • At this point in my life…
  • My American dream…
  • To me, work means…
  • My life right now…
  • Looking ahead, I…
  • I stand for…
• When did the series air?
  Explore participant's submissions that inspired social media conversations, digital series, and the documentary series that aired in January 2021. Watch the series
• How do I stream PBS American Portrait?

  PBS American Portrait specials and episodes can be streamed on the Series Overview page, the PBS Video app, on the official PBS Facebook page, and on the PBS YouTube channel.

• Can anyone submit to the project?
  As of June 2021, we are no longer accepting stories to the website. We encourage you to explore stories, share and continue the conversation with your community about what it really means to be American today.
  
• Do we have resources for educators?

  Yes, student-facing discussions, storytelling curricula, and professional learning materials for teachers are available on PBS LearningMedia (https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/american-portrait/) .

• Why does some content on the site have a “mature” label?

  We are mindful of the sensitivities of some of our users, so we created a label to let you decide whether or not to view the content. Some examples of the types of content that we label as mature are discussions of drug use, self-harm, or sexual violence.

• Do videos on the American Portrait site have closed captioning?

  Yes, we are excited to be rolling out captions onto our site. You may notice that some videos have captions and some do not. We are hard at work making sure all the videos are captioned.

  If you see an error in a caption, please contact support at americanportrait_support@pbs.org

• How to turn on closed captioning on video stories
  1. Click on the video you want to watch.

  2. Depending on your browser, captions are turned on different ways.
     In the player:

     • a) If you see a CC button, click on that to turn captions on/off
     • b) Click on the ellipsis (three dots) and you will see an option to turn captions on/off
• Are you experiencing emotional distress or thoughts of suicide?
  If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or thoughts of suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. Call 1-800-273-8255 or Talk to Someone Now.

  
  

  You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting 741-741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime. A live, trained Crisis Counselor receives the text and responds, all from a secure online platform.

  
  

  For more resources and education on suicide prevention and mental health conditions, visit:

  American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

  Mental Health America

  National Alliance on Mental Illness

  
  
• What happens after submissions are no longer being accepted?
  On June 30th, you will no longer be able to share a story on/through this website or access your Account. 

  
  

  Stories

  While the website will no longer be accepting submissions, all of the stories that are on the site will remain for you to browse and share. 

  
  

  Account

  After June 30th, participants will no longer have access to their Accounts.

  This means you will no longer be able to view stories you’ve submitted and favorited in your Account. 

  
  

  If you have a story on the site and need the content removed contact support: americanportrait_support@pbs.org