BOSTON, Mass. — For nearly two centuries, Harvard University held onto photos of enslaved Black people taken without consent. Now, after a 15-year legal battle led by Tamara Lanier, a descendant of one of the photographed men, the university is handing them over.
The portraits of Renty and Delia — a father and daughter forced to strip and pose for racist research — will be returned to South Carolina, the land where they were enslaved, the Associated Press reported.
Their new home will reside in the International African American Museum.
“Papa Renty” is going home
Lanier has long identified Renty as her great-great-great-grandfather, calling him “Papa Renty.” The victory marks what her attorney called an unprecedented moment in U.S. history — one where the descendants of enslaved people reclaimed not just images, but power.
“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,” Lanier said. “This pilfered property, images taken without dignity or consent and used to promote a racist psychoscience will now be repatriated to a home where their stories can be told and their humanity can be restored.”
The images, commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz in 1850, were part of a project to falsely prove Black inferiority. Renty and Delia were photographed shirtless, from multiple angles — dehumanized in service of white supremacist “science.”
Agassiz’s great-great-great-granddaughter Susanna Moore stood beside Lanier when the settlement was announced. She called the images “a deeply racist project,” and said Lanier’s fight reshaped their meaning: “This woman standing next to me, she knew all along she was not small and she was not alone.”
Harvard will finally give up enslaved photos
The lawsuit filed by Lanier in 2019 alleged Harvard had no moral or legal right to the images. She accused the university of exploiting them for academic conferences and commercial use, all while ignoring their violent origins. Harvard reportedly charged “hefty” licensing fees to reproduce the photos.
In court, Harvard never confirmed Lanier’s lineage to Renty and Delia. And while the university said it was “eager” to transfer the images to a public institution, it never publicly acknowledged its complicity in slavery or affirmed Lanier’s ancestral claim — even in settlement.
“This was a complex situation,” Harvard said in a statement, emphasizing the lack of “confirmed” connection between Lanier and the individuals pictured.
Lanier’s attorney Joshua Koskoff said, “Yes, history is written by the winners. But over time, those winners start to look like losers.”
A story 175 years in the making
The settlement includes the transfer of the images and an undisclosed financial agreement. More importantly, it places Renty and Delia in the care of the very community they were stolen from.
Tonya Matthews, CEO of the International African American Museum, called it a moment “175 years in the making.”
“The bravery, tenacity, and grace shown by Ms. Lanier throughout the long and arduous process of returning these critical pieces of Renty and Delia’s story to South Carolina is a model for us all,” she said in a statement.
Glad I stumbled across this.
Glad I stumbled across this.