CBS is calling "Sally Hemings: An American Scandal" a "historical drama." Which, strictly speaking, is true.
The two-part miniseries, which airs Sunday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Ch. 2, does feature historical figures. And it is a drama. (For that matter, it concerns Sally Hemings and an American scandal — her relationship with her master, Thomas Jefferson.)
But the truth of the matter is, there's a whole lot more drama than there is history. Most of what happens in the four hours is the invention of the scriptwriter.
"Every single thing that happened to Sally Hemings that is in the historical record is in the movie," said Tina Andrews — who also admitted that there's almost nothing at all about Hemings in any historical records. "What I had to do is then, emotionally connect those large dots."
Judged as entertainment, "Sally Hemings" is a better-than-average TV movie that's part romance novel, part political thriller. Sam Neill stars as Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and newcomer Carmen Ejogo stars as Hemings, one of Jefferson's slaves, whom many believe was romantically involved with him and bore him several children.
"It is not your typical love story," Andrews understated. "I have always said what makes it controversial is all the layers you put on top of what is essentially a relationship between a man and a woman. Now, the fact of the matter was, these two people came together under the unfortunate institution of slavery."
The miniseries covers their nearly four-decade relationship, from the time Hemings went to join then-ambassador to France Jefferson in Paris, through his terms as George Washington's secretary of state, John Adams' vice president, the presidency itself — and the troubled years that followed.
As portrayed in "An American Scandal," the relationship was a loving one. Jefferson, a widower, and Hemings — who was the half-sister of Jefferson's late wife — are devoted to one another. Not that the president can acknowledge their relationship, reports of which threaten to bring down his administration.
Andrews and the show's producers say that, while they admit most of the miniseries is speculation, they have no compunctions about presenting the relationship the way they did. There are, of course, reports of Jefferson and Hemings' love affair that date back 200 years. There are the writings of Hemings' son. And there is recent DNA evidence that his descendents and hers are related (although that evidence does not necessarily prove that he fathered her children). Despite that, and plenty of "circumstantial evidence," controversy continues to swirl around what, exactly, their relationship was.
"I expect a lot of controversy is with people who don't agree and don't want it to be so," said Jefferson Westerinen, who points to some of that circumstantial evidence.
"Thomas Jefferson was present nine months before every birth was happening. Sally Hemings was his personal wardrobe attendant in his room. I can't imagine that it would be anything else. Also, you have the oral history of the other families. Plus, Madison Hemings' own writings, claiming Jefferson as his father and giving some personality outline of that. So I believe it, myself."
As does Andrews.
"I was presented with a 38-year relationship between this man and this woman," Andrews said. "At the point that Sally Hemings showed up in Paris, Thomas Jefferson, who had been dating other women, stopped dating anybody else and never, ever dated anyone else seriously, nor did he ever marry again until the day he died.
"Sally Hemings also did not give birth whenever he was not at the plantation, which says to me that she was not involved with someone else, which would have been typical for her to have, say, a slave boyfriend."
She also pointed to documentation of the money Jefferson spent on clothing for Hemings while they were in France. To the money he spent on her medical bills. To the fact that he tutored her along with his daughters.
"This says to me that there was some emotionalism involved because, let's face it . . . Mr. Jefferson could have gotten married and still had a slave romp with Sally Hemings, which is what a lot of Southern plantation owners did," Andrews said, "but that was not the case with her."
While much of what is in "An American Scandal" is questionable, a lot of it is not. Quite a bit of it is indisputably wrong, and Andrews knows it. Hemings never visited the White House. Gabrielle's Rebellion, a slave uprising, occurred in 1800, not 1796. Jefferson's slaves were sold off because of his bankruptcy, after his death, not before.
And, while the TV movie shows Hemings in possession of papers Jefferson gave her that granted her freedom — papers she uses to confront Jefferson's daughter — there is no evidence they ever existed.
Andrews' answer for all these inconsistencies is consistent — it was all done in the name of making the narrative cohesive and entertaining.
"Well, there's a lot in the movie that we really don't know (if it) happened or not," Andrews said, "but good drama dictates that, finally, at the end of this four-hour journey between these two women, for whom there was such jealousy over the love of this one man, I felt it was necessary that Sally show Martha that it was a relationship of true love between these two people. So it was purely dramatic license, because we don't know for sure if that paper exists."
Again, "Sally Hemings: An American Scandal" is much more drama than it is history. Watchable drama. Interesting drama.
But by no means reliable historical drama.
SOAP OPERA LIFE: Andrews is a former soap-opera actress whose real-live experience in daytime drama directly led to her becoming a writer — and writing "Sally Hemings."
Back in 1977, her character was involved in an interracial romance with a white character on "Days of Our Lives."
"If I hadn't had that relationship, I probably would not have written this piece," Andrews said. "Because I was the one that was taken off the air because it was so controversial. So I know what it's like to be involved in a taboo relationship."
The storyline proved to be very unpopular with the show's fans. So unpopular that Andrews' contract was not renewed.
"I mean, when your fan mail starts to come in 80-20 against the relationship, you have to assume the people who make the soap and sell the commercials will take you off the air," Andrews said. "And my character, who was scheduled to get married, suddenly got a grant to do research in Stockholm."
Out of work as an actress, she turned to writing.
"After having left that show for that very reason, it was my father who said, 'Be a part of the solution and write roles — wonderful roles — for black women. And if you want to, you certainly can write one of the greatest interracial relationships in American history.' "