Historic Photos of Enslaved Africans Freed from Harvard’s Hold in Emotional Legal Victory

Harvard University has agreed to hand over a set of 19th-century daguerreotypes among the earliest known photographs of enslaved people in the United States to the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. The move brings to a close a long and emotional legal struggle led by Tamara Lanier, a Connecticut author who says she is a direct descendant of two individuals depicted in the images: Renty and his daughter Delia.

The photos, captured in 1850 on a South Carolina plantation, were commissioned by Harvard professor Louis Agassiz, whose now-discredited racial theories attempted to justify white supremacy. The images part of a collection held by Harvard’s Peabody Museum were rediscovered in 1976 and have since become a symbol in the wider conversation about institutional reckoning with slavery and racism in American academia.

Lanier has spent over a decade fighting for the release of the images, which she believes rightfully belong in a public institution where the stories of those depicted can be honored with dignity. Speaking on the outcome, she described it as deeply meaningful, not just for her family, but for descendants of enslaved people across the world. “This is a homecoming,” she said, expressing a sense of restoration and closure. “To return these images to the land where these people were enslaved is to return a piece of their humanity.”

While Harvard has not confirmed Lanier’s genealogical link to the individuals in the daguerreotypes, the university acknowledged the importance of placing the images in a context that encourages reflection and education. A spokesperson for the institution said the decision to relinquish the photographs stemmed from a desire to ensure public access and historical accountability, although they emphasized the legal complexities due to the unresolved nature of Lanier’s familial claims.

Lanier first sued Harvard in 2019, accusing the university of profiting from images taken without consent and demanding reparative justice. Her lawsuit claimed emotional distress and argued that Harvard had exploited the daguerreotypes at academic conferences and through licensing fees. Although Massachusetts courts dismissed her claim to ownership, they allowed her case for emotional damages to proceed, noting Harvard’s complicity in the creation of the dehumanizing images.

The photos were originally intended to support Agassiz’s pseudo-scientific theory of polygenism, the belief that different races evolved separately. To that end, Renty and Delia were posed shirtless and photographed from multiple angles, stripped of agency or respect. Harvard’s eventual agreement to transfer the images is widely viewed as a symbolic, if partial, act of restorative justice.

Lanier was joined during the settlement announcement by Susanna Moore, a descendant of Agassiz himself. The moment two women bound by radically different legacies underscored the generational impact of slavery and the shifting meaning of historical artifacts. “These images were part of a deeply racist project,” Moore said. “But now, they can be used to tell the truth.”

Tonya Matthews, President of the International African American Museum, hailed the moment as a significant turning point. “These are not gentle images,” she said. “But they are powerful. And the story behind them demands to be told with honesty and empathy.”

The museum has pledged to involve Lanier in curating the display of the images, ensuring that their legacy is shaped by those most connected to the past they represent. While financial details of the settlement remain undisclosed, Lanier’s legal team sees this as a step toward accountability, even if Harvard has yet to formally acknowledge her ancestral link to Renty and Delia.

“This isn’t about revenge,” her attorney Joshua Koskoff noted. “It’s about remembrance, about making sure history doesn’t remain buried in the vaults of institutions, but is brought back into the public’s view where it belongs.”

Though Harvard has faced criticism for past inaction, this settlement suggests a shift in how powerful institutions might begin to reckon with their historical roles in upholding slavery. For Lanier, it’s a moment of hard-earned justice. “In the end, the truth finds its way out,” she said. “And today, that truth has a home.”