AMERICAN CREED — citizen power
PROJECT BACKGROUND
PBS launched the ongoing American Creed initiative in 2018 with a documentary that asked: What does it mean to be American? The feature-length film, a one-hour linear TV show, and an accompanying collection of PBS LearningMedia shorts that continue to be viewed and discussed in high school classrooms around the country are a mosaic of stories about people working to realize their own visions of America’s promise.
“You don’t have to be an extraordinary person to do extraordinary things.” –Jasilyn Charger
Now, amid a growing crisis of democracy, a new American Creed documentary series follows young leaders discovering their power to take action. The stories of these “extraordinary, ordinary” young adults will interweave with dialogue between them, facilitated by David M. Kennedy, Condoleezza Rice, Eric Liu and other experienced civic leaders from their different perspectives. Dialogues will explore ideals the young leaders share in common and wrestle with differences in context, outlook and approach.
A NATIONAL EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
By the time the new American Creed series of half-hour episodes launches on PBS in 2026, an education campaign coordinated by KQED Education and the National Writing Project for PBS LearningMedia will already be fully national. High school students in all kinds of school districts are already engaged in viewing and discussing American Creed shorts. In this new curricular package, high school students learn from “near peers” through the diverse stories of young adults committed to building power and democracy from the bottom up. After the 2024 election, PBS LearningMedia will begin launching new shorts, each profiling a different young leader. These short films and accompanying photo essays co-designed by American Creed cast members as “mentor texts” will be published by PBS LearningMedia along with curricular activities, guiding students from viewing, to discussion, to sharing their own media combining photography and writing.
The national Youth Media Challenge, an emergent public media publishing platform coordinated by KQED education, will guide high school teachers to lead their classroom in publishing essays responding to variations on three basic prompts:
What are America’s national ideals? Or What Should America’s national ideals be?
What are the obstacles to realizing those ideals?
How might we overcome those obstacles?
Teacher trainings engaging educators around the country are conducted by the National Writing Project, the Youth Media Challenge’s curricular design and training partner.
VIDEOS
Meet some of the young leaders whose stories high school students will view and discuss before creating and sharing media of their own:
For a sense of the forthcoming PBS Series, view a 10-minute sample reel:
