Boston (AP) – Harvard University abandons Photo of 175 years old As part of a reconciliation with one of the subject’s descendants, it was believed to be the earliest of those enslaved to the South Carolina Museum, dedicated to African American history.
Photos of subjects identified as Rentai, the great great grandfather Tamara Lanier called “Papa Lanti,” and his daughter Delia, will be moved from the Peabody Museum and the Museum of Ethnology to the International Museum of African Americans in South Carolina.
This reconciliation marks the end of a 15-year battle between Lanier and the country’s most elite universities, releasing the 19th century “daguerreotypes” as the predecessor of modern photography. Ranier’s lawyer Joshua Koskov told The Associated Press that the resolution was a “unprecedented” victory for the descendants of those enslaved by the United States and praised his client’s long-standing resolve to pursue justice from her ancestors.
“I think it’s one of American history, because of an unlikely combination of features. It never happened before, to control the long, retrospective image of enslaved people, to have cases that date back 175 years ago,” Koskov said in a phone interview.
The AP sent an email from Harvard asking for comment.
A complex history
Lanier, who lives in Connecticut, sued the Ivy League facility in 2019 for “illegal attacks, possession and expropriation” of images of Renty, Delia and five other enslaved individuals. The lawsuit attacked Harvard with “exploitation” of Renty’s image at a 2017 conference and other uses. Harvard said it used the photos by requesting a “large” license fee to reproduce the images.
The daguerreotypes were commissioned by Harvard University biologist Louis Agassis. Lewis Agassis’s theory of racial differences was used to support slavery in the United States. The lawsuit says Agassis met Renta and Delia while patrolling the plantations in search of racially “pure” slaves born in Africa.
To create the image, both Renty and Delia posed shirtlessly and were taken from several angles.
“For Agassis, Rentai and Delia, it was nothing more than a research specimen,” the lawsuit says. “The violence that encouraged them to participate in a degradation movement designed to prove their demi-human status would not have happened to him, of course, important.”
In 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled Lanier’s endorsement and reaffirmed the merits of Lanier’s case against Harvard after a lower court judge. She determined that there was no legal claim against the image..
The state’s Supreme Court recognized “an accomplice in the horrifying behaviour surrounding Harvard’s creation of daguerreotypes,” saying “Harvard’s current obligations cannot be divorced from past abuse.”
New home for rentals and delia
In a statement Wednesday, Dr. Tonya M. Matthews, CEO of the International Museum of African Americans, called the Harvard University image “the production of 175.”
“The courage, tenacity and grace that Ranier has shown through the long and laborious process of bringing these important Renty and Delia stories back to South Carolina are models for us all,” she said.
The South Carolina Museum has committed to working with Lanier to include her in their decisions about how the story in the image will be told.
“It’s not just an improvement by moving them from a strong facility closet to another facility. And the real significance is that these images can breathe and that the story – the perfect story – is not told by the story conflict players that Harvard was from the start,” Koskov said.
The lawyer said “everyone has the right to tell the story of their family.”
“That’s the most fundamental right we may have,” he said. “To be able to tell the story of her family in the museum, she will be able to tell it. So you can’t do anything more than that.”
In Lanier’s lawsuit, she acknowledged Harvard’s accomplice in slavery, asked Lanier to ask him about his oral family history and pay an unspecified amount. The private financial settlement was part of a resolution announced Wednesday with Harvard, but Koskov said he has not yet publicly recognized Harvard’s relationship with them to perpetuate Lanier and American slavery.
“It’s been left unanswered by Harvard,” he said.
He said Ranier doesn’t expect or is waiting for communication from the agency, but the settlement speaks for itself.
“In the end, the truth will find you. You can only hide it for a long time,” he said. “Yes, history is written by winners. But over time, those winners sometimes look like losers.”
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