The OmniAmerican Society
A new story for American identity, and a platform to carry it.
The OmniAmerican Society is a startup media enterprise founded by John Wood Jr. to restore a shared American identity and bring the Movement to Bridge the Divide into the mainstream.
Why it exists
Our divisions run deeper than policy.
Americans increasingly experience politics as a contest between identities: racial, religious, regional, and partisan. Arguments about policy rarely reach the source of the conflict.
The name draws on Albert Murray’s idea of the “Omni-American”: that American culture is a composite, and that Black American culture is not marginal to that identity but constitutive of it. The Society extends that insight to the whole country. America has always been a composition of distinct traditions, and the path forward is to recover the story that holds them together.
The bridging movement has developed proven methods for bringing Americans together: workshops, debates, and town halls. What it has lacked is a narrative with mainstream reach. The Civil Rights Movement needed both. Its method was nonviolent action; its narrative reached the nation through television. The OmniAmerican Society is built to supply the narrative half for this moment.
What it does
Two tracks, working together
Culture and narrative
Media that changes how Americans talk about politics and identity, drawn from the founding, traditionalist conservatism, the Black freedom tradition, the American Christian and multifaith traditions, the blues and jazz, and the legacy of Dr. King.
Civic engagement
Channeling the audience that media builds toward the depolarization work already happening on the ground, through partners including Braver Angels, so attention becomes participation.
The five-year build
A multimedia network for the bridging movement
Modeled on the reach of today’s most successful independent media companies, pointed toward reconciliation instead of division.
- PodcastsA roster of shows built around conversation across difference.
- VideoLong-form and short-form programming for YouTube and social platforms.
- Journalism & essaysWriting from John and contributors, starting on Substack.
- Music productionRooted in the blues and jazz idiom John has performed his whole life.
Why John
Eight years as the public face of America’s largest bridging organization.
As National Ambassador for Braver Angels from 2018 to 2026, John represented a nationwide community of thousands of volunteers and hundreds of partner organizations on major podcasts, national networks, and before institutions from CPAC to UC Berkeley. He named the organization in 2020 and remains an advisor.
He brings to the Society a body of published work in National Affairs, The Dispatch, Quillette, and USA Today, a forthcoming book on Christian nationalism and the legacy of Dr. King, and a biography that already spans the divides the Society addresses.
Support the work
Join the founding circle
Foundations and major donors
Fund the launch
John is building the Society’s founding base of support. Program officers and philanthropic partners are invited to request a conversation and the Society’s overview materials.
Readers
Become a paid subscriber
Paid subscriptions on Substack directly support the Society’s writing, salons, and early media production, and give access to the full essay archive.