Harvard University reached a settlement Wednesday with the descendants of enslaved people who had their photos taken by a university professor back in the 1800s.
Tamara Lanier, the great-great-great granddaughter of one of the individuals in the photographs, had pressed for the school to give up the pictures in what became a 15-year legal battle, The Associated Press reported.
The photos, taken by a Harvard professor for a racist study in 1850, will be moved from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to the International African American Museum in South Carolina.
Joshua Koskoff, Lanier’s attorney, told the AP it was an “unprecedented” legal victory.
“I think it’s one of one in American history, because of the combination of unlikely features: to have a case that dates back 175 years, to win control over images dating back that long of enslaved people — that’s never happened before,” Koskoff said.
In the images, Renty and Delia, enslaved people at a South Carolina plantation, were forced to pose topless and were photographed from several angles.
Harvard said it had “long been eager to place the Zealy Daguerreotypes with another museum or other public institution to put them in the appropriate context and increase access to them for all Americans.”
“This settlement now allows us to move forward towards that goal,” the university added. “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.”
The Hill has reached out to Harvard and Koskoff for further comment.
