Jefferson Was 'Tremendously Flawed' but Should Inspire Change, Descendant Says

Instead of letting President Thomas Jefferson's record on race diminish his contributions to America, Michele Cooley-Strickland said people should use her ancestor's imperfections as an inspiration that they can change the country as well.

Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, was an integral part in the founding of America, but his blighted past has called his legacy into question. Students at the University of Virginia, a school he founded, pushed for years to remove him from his pedestal, and in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody, protesters toppled a statue in Portland, Oregon, while New York City Council members want Mayor Bill de Blasio to remove a statue from City Hall.

Cooley-Strickland, who can trace her lineage back seven generations to Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, told Newsweek those who make significant contributions to history are not uncomplicated. Therefore, it's up to us to determine the balance of their contribution and decide if it's worthy of celebration.

"It's an assessment in total," Cooley-Strickland said. "So yes, there were significant detractors of Jefferson, but weighing each of those factors in the plus and minus column, the plus column is the larger of the two."

Jefferson's life is marked by contradictions in what he practiced and what he preached. He penned the famous words "All men are created equal," but owned more than 600 slaves. In Notes on the State of Virginia, he wrote about the injustice of racial superiority and the emancipation of slaves but also expressed racist views on what he saw as Black people's' inferior abilities.

Some consider Jefferson ownership of slaves as reason enough to knock him off his pedestal, as it's seen as a symbol of the oppression and degradation of millions of people. But Cooley-Strickland encourages people to use Jefferson's imperfections as an inspiration. Jefferson, she said, worked tirelessly to make America a better place and can be an example that shows all of us have the ability to make more of the world we live in.

"This man who is tremendously flawed helped found our nation," she said. "That should be the inspiration to you to think about what you can do even with your flaws, because none of us are perfect."

Cooley-Strickland, a project scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, acknowledged the conflict surrounding Jefferson's legacy, both because he owned slaves, which she said she recognized was not unusual in his era, and because he had the power to make more changes than he did. But, she said, when statues are presented in a balanced way, they can start a dialogue that recognizes Jefferson's "tremendous contributions in America's history" as well as the adverse impact he had on an entire race of people.

Being able to view Jefferson through the necessary complex lens requires education. America, she said, likes things "clean and easy," and the country has approached slavery from the point of view of "that was then, this is now, let's move on." But totally overlooking a person's faults prevents the country from growing. As a clinical psychologist, Cooley-Strickland said, there's no "true moving on" if people don't process the trauma and pain and the cascading results of it.

"There needs to be the recognition that our country treated a whole people egregiously, and there needs to be a recognition and a reparation of the wounds that continue," she said. "When you don't give the weight that each perspective is owed, there's an imbalance that prohibits true growth from that experience."

Jefferson isn't the only historical figure whose place is now being questioned. At least 15 statues and monuments honoring Confederacy figures were taken down in 2020, the Army will rename bases honoring Confederate heroes, and the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill to remove the Confederate emblem from the state flag.

Growing up in Virginia, Cooley-Strickland came to understand the esteem in which her friends held certain Confederate regalia. She recognized that for people today, whose ancestors fought in the Civil War, the regalia have significance outside of the offense they cause to others. However, she noted that the losers of an international war don't get recognized or commemorated and that people need to balance the contribution of Confederate "heroes" with what's in their minus columns.

For example, she supported removing Nathan Bedford Forrest from his pedestal. Not only was he a slave trader and Confederate general, but he was also the leader of the Ku Klux Klan. So when considering if his plus column outweighs the minus column, it's a "no-brainer" that he should not be celebrated as a hero.

"It's important for us to place potential and existing heroes on a teeter-totter and balance out what their contributions are because I think it plays into a greater concern about who are our young people's heroes," Cooley-Strickland said. "We need to make sure those we are putting forward to be celebrated may be celebrated by all."

Unlike previous movements and changes that she sees as having a beginning and an end, Cooley-Strickley views today's push as just the starting point. Instead of making a decision about individual statues and moving on as if the matter is closed—the equivalent of a Band-Aid—she said this time is hopefully the beginning of a continuing dialogue that leads to permanent growth and improvement.

"There's no change, there's no lasting growth without understanding the entire picture," she said. "We must educate people, not just with what's pictured in two lines on a plaque but a deeper understanding of the story."