175-year-old images commissioned for racist research will move from Harvard to International African American Museum, something a descendant calls a victory for reparative justice.
Harvard University has agreed to turn over 175-year-old photographs of enslaved people to a museum in South Carolina, ending a yearslong battle led by a woman who says the images include her ancestors.
The daguerreotypes — early photographs taken in 1850 — depict a man Tamara Lanier identifies as her great-great-great-grandfather, Renty, and his daughter, Delia. Commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz to promote racist pseudoscience, the images are believed to be among the earliest known photographs of enslaved people in the United States, according to the Associated Press.
The photographs will now be housed at the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina — the state where Renty and Delia were once enslaved.
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