According to a report from the Associated Press, Harvard University has agreed to relinquish a set of photographs that are believed to be some of the earliest taken of enslaved people as part of a settlement with Tamara Lanier, who alleges to be a descendant of the subjects.
Taken 175 years ago, the photos feature Lanier’s great-great-great-grandfather Renty and his daughter Delia, who were enslaved in the state of South Carolina. Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz commissioned the images on behalf of the university.
In 2019, Lanier sued Harvard, alleging the photographs were taken “without Renty and Delia’s consent and therefore unlawfully retained” by the university. Lanier’s suit states Agassiz discovered Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially “pure” enslaved individuals born in Africa. He forced Renty and Delia to pose shirtless and be photographed from multiple angles.
According to Lanier, Harvard exploited Renty’s image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. Additionally, her suit states Harvard has capitalized on the photos by requiring a licensing fee to reproduce the images.
As a result of recent negotiations between Harvard’s and Lanier’s attorneys, the photographs of Renty and Delia will be transferred from Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaelogy and Ethnology to the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. The resolution also includes an undisclosed financial settlement.
“This is a moment in history where the sons and daughters of stolen ancestors can stand with pride and rightfully proclaim a victory for reparations,” said Lanier at a celebration in Boston. “This pilfered property, images taken without dignity or consent and used to promote a racist pseudoscience will now be repatriated to a home where their stories can be told and their humanity can be restored.”
