Harvard Agrees to Give Up Its 175-Year-Old Slave Photos

Harvard University will give up what are thought to be the earliest photographs taken of enslaved people in America, ending a yearslong legal battle with a woman who says they feature some of her ancestors. Tamara Lanier has been fighting to obtain the 175-year-old images featuring a man who she says is her great-great-great-grandfather Renty, and another of his daughter Delia. The New York Times reports the photos will be transferred not to Lanier but to the International African American Museum in South Carolina, the state where they were enslaved in 1850 when the photos were taken. How the sides are framing the settlement:

• Lanier's attorney: Joshua Koskoff called the outcome an "unprecedented" victory for descendants of those enslaved in the US in comments to the AP. "I think it's one of one in American history, because of the combination of unlikely features: to have a case that dates back 175 years, to win control over images dating back that long of enslaved people—that's never happened before," Koskoff said.
• Harvard: Per the New York Times, the university expressed gratitude "to Ms. Lanier for sparking important conversations about these images, [though] it is inaccurate to say that Harvard resisted her 'requests.' This was a complex situation, particularly since Harvard has not confirmed that Ms. Lanier was related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes."

The daguerreotypes were commissioned by Harvard professor Louis Agassiz, who subscribed to polygenesis—the racist belief that different races don't share a common origin—and who in 1850 captured images of Renty and six other enslaved people to document his beliefs. Lanier's suit, filed in 2019, sought to have Harvard acknowledge its complicity in slavery, listen to Lanier's oral family history, and pay an unspecified sum in damages.

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An undisclosed financial settlement was part of the resolution with Harvard announced Wednesday, but Koskoff said Harvard still hasn't publicly acknowledged Lanier's connection to them or its connection to perpetuating slavery in the US, Koskoff said. "That is just left unanswered by Harvard," he said. He added that Lanier isn't expecting or waiting to hear from the institution, but that the settlement speaks for itself. (More Harvard University stories.)