Harvard agrees to relinquish early photos of slaves, ending a long legal battle

By LEAH WILLINGHAM BOSTON AP Harvard University will relinquish -year-old photographs maintained to be the earliest taken of enslaved people to a South Carolina museum devoted to African American history as part of a settlement with one of the subjects descendants The photos of the subjects identified by Tamara Lanier as her great-great-great-grandfather Renty whom she calls Papa Renty and his daughter Delia will be transferred from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to the International African American Museum in South Carolina the state where they were enslaved in when the photos were taken a lawyer for Lanier disclosed Wednesday The settlement marks the end of a -year battle between Lanier and the esteemed university to release the th-century daguerreotypes a precursor to modern-day photographs Lanier s attorney Joshua Koskoff recounted The Associated Press that the resolution is an unprecedented achievement for descendants of those enslaved in the U S and praised his client s yearslong determination in pursuing justice for her ancestors I think it s one of one in American history because of the combination of unlikely features to have a affair that dates back years to win control over images dating back that long of enslaved people that s never happened before Koskoff mentioned In a announcement Harvard announced it had long been eager to place the Zealy Daguerreotypes with another museum or other citizens institution to put them in the appropriate context and increase access to them for all Americans This settlement now allows us to move forward towards that goal the university noted While we are grateful to Ms Lanier for sparking critical conversations about these images this was a complex situation particularly since Harvard has not approved that Ms Lanier was related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes A complex history Lanier who lives in Connecticut sued the Ivy League school in for wrongful seizure possession and expropriation of the images of Renty Delia and five other enslaved individuals The suit attacked Harvard for its exploitation of Renty s image at a conference and in other uses It noted Harvard has capitalized on the photos by demanding a hefty licensing fee to reproduce the images The daguerreotypes were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz whose theories on racial difference were used to promotion slavery in the U S The lawsuit says Agassiz came across Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially pure slaves born in Africa To create the images both Renty and Delia were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles To Agassiz Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens the suit says The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him let alone mattered In the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in Lanier s favor and reaffirmed the merits of Lanier s lawsuit against Harvard after a lower court judge ruled she had no legal claim to the images The state s highest court recognized Harvard s complicity in the horrific actions surrounding the creation of the daguerreotypes saying that Harvard s present obligations cannot be divorced from its past abuses A new home for Renty and Delia Tonya M Matthews the CEO of the International African American Museum called Harvard s relinquishing of the images a moment years in the making The bravery tenacity and grace shown by Ms Lanier throughout the long and arduous process of returning these critical pieces of Renty and Delia s story to South Carolina is a model for us all she commented in a comment Related Articles Why wrench attacks on wealthy crypto holders are on the rise Philanthropy wants to build Gen Z s confidence in institutions Will youth empowerment foster trust Wall Street drifts as the countdown ticks toward Nvidia s earnings statement Macy s surprises in first quarter but cuts profit outlook as tariff costs seep in Planning a wedding is stressful Couples and vendors now have to factor in tariffs The South Carolina museum has committed to working with Lanier and including her in decisions about how the story of the images will be advised It s not an improvement just to move them from one closet in a mighty institution to another And so really the real importance of this is to allow these images to breathe to allow the story the full story to be advised not by a conflicted member in the story which Harvard was from the beginning Koskoff declared The attorney reported everybody has the right to tell the story of their own families That s the least the majority basic right we might have he explained To be able to tell the story of her family with a museum that will allow her to tell it I mean you can t do any better than that In Lanier s lawsuit she solicited for Harvard to acknowledge its complicity in slavery listen to Lanier s oral family history and pay an unspecified sum in damages An undisclosed financial settlement was part of the resolution with Harvard stated Wednesday but Koskoff mentioned Harvard still hasn t publicly acknowledged Lanier s connection to them or its connection to perpetuating slavery in the U S Koskoff revealed That is just left unanswered by Harvard he disclosed He announced Lanier isn t expecting or waiting to hear from the institution but that the settlement speaks for itself In the end the truth will find you you can you can only hide from it for so long he stated Yes history is written by the winners But over time you know those winners look like losers sometimes