Shannon LaNier carries an inheritance that few Americans can claim: he is the sixth great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States. He is also a direct descendant of Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman Jefferson held at Monticello and with whom he fathered several children.
This dual lineage puts LaNier, 47, at the center of an unresolved American paradox. Jefferson wrote that all men are created equal with rights to life and liberty, yet he enslaved more than 600 people across his lifetime. The contradiction is not theoretical for LaNier. It is family.
"I wish he would have done more to free the enslaved people and practice what he actually preached," LaNier said in an interview. "I know he tried but he was the most powerful man in the country and he could have done more. He was living a double life, so it's unfortunate."
The observation comes as the nation marks its 250th anniversary this weekend, a milestone that has prompted difficult conversations about whose story America chooses to tell and whose it erases. LaNier, who has worked as a television personality, actor, and public speaker, co-authored "Jefferson's Children: The Story of One American Family."
He was aware of his famous lineage as a child but learned its weight painfully early. In second grade, when his class studied the presidents, he stood up to announce he was Jefferson's descendant. "The class laughed and the teacher said, 'Sit down and stop telling lies!' That was a hurtful moment in my life," he recalled.
His mother intervened the next day to set the record straight with the teacher. That correction became formative. "It helped me understand the importance of knowing who I am, being strong in the belief of who I am, and not letting others define me," LaNier said.
Growing up, LaNier saw Jefferson's name on schools, streets, and mountain peaks. He also grew conscious of how Sally Hemings had been written out of the historical record. What he discovered as he matured was that Hemings, despite her enslaved status, exercised agency in ways few enslaved women could.
The relationship between Jefferson and Hemings began when she joined him in Paris at age 14, where she was legally free under French law. She agreed to return with him to Virginia only after he promised to free their children once they turned 21, a negotiated arrangement she managed to secure despite her powerlessness in almost every other regard.
"We have to give credit to Sally Hemings," LaNier said. "It's because of her that we know who we are today, that she didn't hide the story from her children, that she was able to negotiate for her kids to have freedom at 21. She was able to tell her story and make sure we were able to tell our stories."
He added: "I commend all those who were enslaved. A lot of people like to think of slavery as only a horrific experience, but it was also an experience that proves we come from a very powerful people who were able to survive the most horrible conditions on the planet."
As the 250th anniversary approaches, LaNier is aware of efforts to reshape American history in ways that sideline the diverse foundations of the nation's origins. He points to Monticello, Jefferson's Virginia estate, as a model of how historical institutions can do better.
In 2018, Monticello opened six new exhibits that spotlight the lives and contributions of Hemings and other enslaved families who built and ran the property. "A lot of historical institutions can learn a lot from Monticello," LaNier observed. "They're telling what happened: the good, the bad, and the ugly. You need a full story and context."
The Fourth of July anniversary remains contested ground for many African Americans. Frederick Douglass posed the question in 1852: "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" That question still resonates, LaNier acknowledged, particularly as some in the Black community have chosen to celebrate Juneteenth instead, marking the day enslaved people learned of their freedom.
But LaNier argues for honoring July 4th as well. "It's just as important to celebrate July 4 because if we did not, it would make all the blood, sweat, and tears of our ancestors in vain," he said. "It's important that people know how involved people of color were in the founding of this country. We would not have a 250-year anniversary without people of color slaving and laboring constantly."
He pointed out the obvious: enslaved people built the White House, managed Jefferson's plantation, and provided the labor that enabled the founding fathers to write the nation's founding documents. Those facts, he said, are routinely whitewashed or forgotten.
This Saturday is also notable as the bicentenary of Jefferson's death. He died at Monticello on July 4, 1826, at age 83. Just hours later, John Adams, the second president, died in Massachusetts on the same day, marking the 50th anniversary of American independence.
Despite the current climate of anxiety and fracture, LaNier expressed cautious optimism about the nation's future. "Sometimes you take two steps forward, you have to take two steps back," he said. "Hopefully when this era is over, we can take several leaps forward and get caught back up."
He emphasized that understanding the past, including its failures and hypocrisies, is essential to moving forward. "We have to know our mistakes so we can move forward and not repeat those mistakes," he said. "If we keep concerning ourselves with the words Jefferson wrote, 'all men are created equal,' not just rich, land-owning white men, then we can get to a better place where this country can go through some healing and reconciliation."
Author James Rodriguez: "LaNier's candor about Jefferson's hypocrisy while refusing to reduce his ancestors to victims is the clearest-eyed perspective on this week's celebrations we're likely to hear."
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