“Meet a Stranger”: StoryCorps Facilitates Conversations Across the U.S. for 250th Anniversary

The Trump administration’s commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding have drawn criticism for their overt partisanship and conflicts of interest for the Trump family. Surveys show widespread ambivalence and lack of enthusiasm for the semiquincentennial.

StoryCorps founder Dave Isay has set out to capture the national mood with Connect250, an oral history project matching strangers across the United States to interview each other about their lives, families and formative experiences. The series is produced in partnership with NPR’s Morning Edition, with the conversations to be preserved in the Library of Congress.

“It’s actually a very hopeful project,” says Isay. “We have to hold on to hope.”