BOSTON — Harvard University announced on Wednesday it will relinquish dozens of photos of enslaved Black people following a years-long legal dispute between the Ivy League institution and a Black woman who is a descendant of one of the enslaved people in the photo collection.
Tamara Lanier is a direct descendant of an enslaved man she refers to “Renty,” and filed the lawsuit against Harvard. He was photographed with his daughter Delia in the 1850s by Harvard’s first professor of photography, Dr. Louis Agassiz. The photographs were taken as part of Agassiz’s efforts to promote his theories on race, which were rooted in pseudoscience and aimed at justifying the subjugation of Black people.
In 2019, Lanier filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, seeking the return of the photographs and compensation for their use. She argued that the university has profited from the images of her ancestors without acknowledging their humanity or the context in which the photographs were taken. Lanier’s case is not merely about the images themselves; it is part of a broader conversation on the need for institutions to confront their past and recognize the dignity of those who were enslaved.
The lawsuit not only raises questions about ownership and rights to historical artifacts but also highlights the broader implications of how society remembers and honors the lives of enslaved people.
In the lawsuit, Lanier requested Harvard acknowledge its complicity in slavery, listen to Lanier’s oral family history and pay unspecified damages.
The 175-year-old photographs are believed to be the earliest taken of enslaved people in the United States. The collection will be given a new home at the South Carolina museum devoted to African American history.
More on the lawsuit and history of the photos of Renty.
