Shannon LaNier, Jefferson’s sixth great-grandson, reflects on his lineage and the role of African Americans in the nation’s foundingWhen the US turns 250 years old on Saturday, Shannon LaNier will be reckoning with a fundamental contradiction in its origin story – and his own.LaNier is the six th great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson, the founding father who wrote the Declaration of Independence and became the third president. Continue reading... ...read more read less