Maryland was never meant to choose a side.
Born from the heraldry of a colonial family, its black-and-gold and red-and-white banners once symbolized lineage and legacy. But when the Civil War split the nation, those same colors became declarations. Brothers marched beneath different quadrants. Neighbors signaled allegiance in thread and cloth. A border state learned that neutrality is an illusion.
In Divided Colors, Jeff Mills weaves a sweeping historical epic that follows one Maryland family across generations-from colonial promise to Civil War fracture, from uneasy reconciliation in 1904 to a modern courtroom where the meaning of the flag itself is put on trial.
As soldiers clash at Antietam and lawmakers stitch together a banner of reunion, the question lingers: Can a symbol carry both pride and pain? And who decides what it stands for?
Lyrical, provocative, and deeply human, Divided Colors explores heritage, memory, and the uneasy truth that history does not disappear-it flies above us.
Because some wars end.
But some colors never stop fighting.