Polarized America Needs a Shared Story
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”
Principal of The Clapham Group, Mark Rodgers, Emmy award-winning writer of “Band of Brothers,” Erik Bork, and Debilyn Molineaux, founder of the Bridge Alliance, have partnered on a project, E Pluribus, to tell the story of the Marbleheaders militia which was part of the Continental Army throughout 1776. This project was announced in a Boston Herald op-ed on Friday, October 13th.
This militia served under General Washington in the Revolutionary War and is most well known for the “Washington Crossing the Delaware” painting by Emanuel Leutze (pictured below). However, the Marbleheaders' importance extends beyond the familiar painting's canvas. This regiment was the most integrated fighting force in the American military until 1948, with one-third of this militia’s soldiers being non-white, and included freed blacks and Native Americans. Even though other militia in the Continental Army did not want to serve alongside them, these soldiers still fought courageously with conviction and belief in this young nation. This series invites viewers to explore our country's founding history through a story that allows for both celebration and critical reflection. Ultimately, it invites us to aspire anew to that most audacious and foundational creed, “E Pluribus Unum.”
E Pluribus will be an 8-episode limited series released in 2026 to commemorate the nation’s Semiquincentennial anniversary. The Marbleheaders embody the tensions and hopes, the valor and sacrifice of the pursuit of liberty enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Their regiment’s unity in diversity is an origin story that red and blue America can watch and celebrate together. In a time of deep political polarization and division, this country needs shared national narratives to unify the American people.
Learn more about the E Pluribus project
Read Mark, Erik, and Debilyn’s op-ed below.
“Washington Crossing the Delaware,” Emanuel Leutze
About 250 years ago this fall, the Boston Gazette republished several inflammatory editorials calling for opposition to the Tea Act 1773, the most recent of numerous onerous impositions by the British Parliament.
In response, Samuel Adams dusted off the plans he had used to prevent implementation of the Stamp Act. According to the book “American Tempest:” “He would send his mob to frighten East India Company agents into resigning, then prevent ships from landing and offloading their tea.” However, this time, the brewing resentment would culminate in a piece of public theater that would launch a new nation.
The resulting Tea Party was held in Boston Harbor on Dec. 16 of that year. Patriots, dressed as Native Americans to disguise their identity, dumped 46 tons of tea in the water. It became the story that ignited the imagination of revolutionaries throughout the colonies, united in their desire for liberation from the shackles of an oppressive, distant authority.
For several years, America has been in one of the most polarized periods of its history since the Civil War. As we enter the political season leading up to the 2024 national elections, we are concerned that the rising tension we are experiencing will boil over. Some on the extremes have even been talking about the need for a new revolution, calling for violence beyond civil disobedience.
In his prescient 2022 essay in The Atlantic, Jonathan Haidt wrote that “It’s been clear for quite a while now that red America and blue America are becoming like two different countries claiming the same territory, with two different versions of the Constitution, economics, and American history.” He further notes that social media has weakened the three major forces that bind together successful democracies: social capital, strong institutions, and shared stories.
In a 2019 Vox interview, former CIA analyst and author Martin Burri said that mass media once was the “gigantic mirror” in which the American people saw themselves, through a shared narrative. He points out, however, that “the digital revolution has shattered that mirror, and now the public inhabits those broken pieces of glass. So the public isn’t one thing; it’s highly fragmented, and it’s basically mutually hostile. It’s mostly people yelling at each other and living in bubbles of one sort or another.”
Image from Brown University
We are bridge-building activists and award winning storytellers. Without a shared narrative through which we can embrace our past, good and ugly, and a future worth uniting for, we believe we may shatter apart.
The 250th anniversary of America’s independence, and its establishment of a national identity through military and legislative action, is just over two years away. In 2026, we have an opportunity to retell both the courageous actions and the compromised promises that were made to found this grand American Experiment in self governance.
Unfortunately, our origin story has become another source of division. Are we a nation born out of compromises that left injustice and inequity in its wake, or one that has followed “the arc of the moral universe” bending toward justice as Martin Luther King Jr. said in his 1968 speech at the National Cathedral? Or is it both?
We have partnered on a project, E Pluribus, that tells such a story. The Marbleheaders militia were a courageous fighting unit during the Revolution. Formed in one of the largest fishing ports in the Northeast, the unit was made up of sailors who were accustomed to working together. General Washington observed they were one of the most disciplined regiments in the Continental Army. Most of us know of them from the “Washington Crossing the Delaware” painting by Emanuel Leutze. Washington relied heavily on them throughout 1776 for both naval and land engagements, even though other militia in the Continental Army did not want to fight alongside them.
Continue reading the Boston Herald op-ed.