Two rare 19th-century photographs of enslaved individuals are heading to a South Carolina museum after Harvard University agreed to release them, bringing an end to a 15-year dispute. A descendant of the individuals in the photographs led the fight to have them released, seeking justice for her ancestors and greater recognition of their story.
What are the photos?
Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology currently holds photographs of Renty and his daughter Delia, ancestors of Tamara Lanier. According to Lanier and her attorney, the pictures were taken in South Carolina, where they were slaves in 1850.
They are known as daguerreotypes, an early form of photography created on a silver-coated copper plate. The photography was popular in the mid-1800s for its exceptional detail and durability. The images were expensive, meaning most pictures involved wealthier subjects.
What led to the settlement?
Lanier filed the lawsuit against Harvard in 2019, accusing the university of refusing to release the photographs, acknowledge her family’s connection to the people depicted or take responsibility for its historical ties to slavery.
In 2022, Massachusetts’ highest court allowed Lanier’s case against Harvard to proceed. The court acknowledged the university’s role in the origins of the daguerreotypes and emphasized that its current responsibilities are inseparable from its historical involvement in slavery.
Under the settlement between Lanier and Harvard, the university will transfer the 175-year-old photographs to the International African American Museum in South Carolina, along with other images depicting five other enslaved individuals.
Harvard professor Louis Agassiz used the images to support his now-discredited theories about racial hierarchy and slavery in America. However, Lanier’s attorney argues that staff rediscovered the photographs in 1976 and later displayed them at the Peabody Museum without trying to identify or contact any living descendants. He claims Harvard used the images to generate public interest and profit through image use rights.
“Since Black Americans were first brought to this country in chains, our pain and trauma have been exploited for capitalistic gain,” Lanier said. “Harvard played a role in the darkest chapter in American history. This is a small step in the right direction towards fully acknowledging that history and working to rectify it.”
“This is a day of reckoning 175 years in the making. The survival and perseverance of Renty and Delia in their lifetime won them their freedom after emancipation, so it seems only fitting that Tamara Lanier’s perseverance in telling their full story has now won them their freedom from spiritual enslavement by the institution that has held them for nearly two centuries,” Lanier’s attorney, Joshua Koskoff, said.
What was the response from Harvard?
According to a Harvard spokesperson, the settlement advances their goal of placing the photos in another museum or public institution.
“While we are grateful to Ms. Lanier for sparking important conversations about these images, this was a complex situation, particularly since Harvard has not confirmed that Ms. Lanier was related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes,” Harvard told The Associated Press.
In 2022, Harvard released a report from the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, which acknowledged that slavery is what built the university to its glory. The report states that Harvard’s faculty, staff and leadership enslaved more than 70 people.
Harvard’s involvement with slavery didn’t end when Massachusetts outlawed it in 1783. In the 19th century, the university accepted financial support from donors whose wealth originated from slavery, including profits tied to Southern cotton and Caribbean sugar.
In the 20th century, some Harvard faculty promoted eugenics, while racial bias shaped admissions policies and student housing. These practices helped build Harvard’s reputation as an elite institution serving America’s white upper class.
