PBS American Portrait "I Work"

Everyday people, teachers to truck drivers, share self-shot stories about their jobs and careers.

PBS, as part of its 50th anniversary crowdsourced storytelling project PBS American Portrait, presents this four-part documentary series, which captures the remarkable story of 2020 through the voices of everyday people from every U.S. state and territory. PBS American Portrait airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV. 

In this second episode I Work, airing Tuesday, January 11 at 9 p.m., everyday people share self-shot stories about their jobs and careers as they navigate the changes they're experiencing and the goals they're working toward. From teachers to truck drivers, they explore what it really means to work in America today. The main stories featured are D'Artanian D. & Jonathan E. from New Orleans; Jessica M. from Chula Vista, California; and Laura H. from Stillwell, Oklahoma.

Since it launched in January 2020, this most ambitious multiplatform project in the organization’s history, 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.