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This was the ninth week of videos from the 250 to 250 Project that we’re producing to honor the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
We designed the videos to emphasize the agency of Americans—mostly everyday Americans—to change the country. Each falls into a category that defines what it means to be an American, including community, democracy, innovation, mobility, civil rights, education, conservation, and creativity.
You can follow the project at the sites listed below, or under “videos” at my own YouTube page: Heather Cox Richardson. Or just wait until I send out the week’s roundup.
Follow Along | #WeAreAmerica250
Substack | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Bluesky | Threads
Apollo 11, Narrated by Senator Mark Kelly
Mark Kelly has served his country as a U.S. Navy combat pilot, a NASA astronaut, and now as a U.S. Senator for Arizona. Here he reflects on the improbable quest to send American astronauts to the moon.
Shays’ Rebellion, Narrated by Senator Elizabeth Warren
Senator Elizabeth Warren is U.S. Senator from Massachusetts focusing on economic justice, consumer protection, and financial regulation. Here Warren recounts Shays’ Rebellion, the farmers’ uprising that exposed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and spurred the drafting of the Constitution.
Green Mountain Boys, Narrated by Representative Becca Balint
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint has represented Vermont in Congress since 2023, making history as the first woman and openly LGBTQ+ person to do so. A former teacher and state legislator, Balint talks here about the Green Mountain Boys, the Vermont militia known for its heroics during the Revolutionary War.
Sandra Day O’Connor, Narrated by Joyce White Vance
Joyce Vance is a prominent legal analyst, Professor of Law, New York Times bestselling author, and former federal prosecutor who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama during the Obama Administration. Vance explores the legacy of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court Justice.
Jewish Community of Early Savannah, Narrated by Rabbi Robert Haas
Rabbi Robert Haas is the 14th spiritual leader of Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah, Georgia. Here, he tells the story of the Jewish refugees who arrived in 1733 and founded Mickve Israel—the oldest Jewish congregation in the American South.
Integration in Little Rock, Narrated by Reverend Liz Walker
The Reverend Liz Walker is an award-winning broadcast journalist, humanitarian, and ordained minister best known as the first Black evening news anchor in Boston. Reverend Walker credits her experience in the second wave of desegregation at Little Rock Central High School for her trailblazing efforts for intercultural dialogue and social justice.
Barbara Shermund, Narrated by Liza Donnelly
Liza Donnelly is a writer and award-winning New Yorker cartoonist covering culture and politics for forty years. She pioneered live drawing, a form of digital visual journalism and directed the 2025 documentary, Women Laughing. Donnelly profiles cartoonist Barbara Shermund, whose irreverent New Yorker drawings captured the spirit of first-wave feminism and the liberated women of the 1920s and ‘30s.
Charles Ives, Narrated by David Lang
David Lang is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, a Professor at the Yale School of Music, and a co-founder of the legendary New York-based music collective Bang on a Can. Here, Lang profiles composer Charles Ives, whose radical fusion of European classical style and American folk traditions created a fearless template for American music.