A Middlesex Superior Court judge on Tuesday dismissed Connecticut resident Tamara K. Lanierâs lawsuit against Harvard alleging that the University unlawfully possesses and profits from historic photos she says depict her enslaved ancestors.
Lanier plans to appeal the decision, she and one of her attorneys told The Crimson Wednesday.
Lanierâs suit, which she filed against the University in March 2019, centers on the daguerreotypes of two enslaved people named Renty and Delia, which scholars believe to be some of the oldest images of slaves. According to Lanier, they depict her great-great-great-grandfather Renty and his daughter Delia.
Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz commissioned the photos in the 19th century as part of a racist study to prove the biological superiority of white people. Lanier requested in the suit that Harvard turn the daguerreotypes over to her, relinquish any profit made through using, reproducing, or licensing the images, and pay her punitive damages
Following a University report that indicated the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology houses the remains of formerly enslaved people within its collections, anthropology scholars and curator advocates called on Harvard to promote conversations regarding museumsâ roles in perpetuating racism.
At the end of January, University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced the results of a Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology review, which found that the museumâs collections include the remains of 15 individuals of African descent who were likely alive during the time of slavery in the United States.
Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and chair of the presidential initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, a University-wide effort to examine the legacy of slavery at Harvard, responded to Bacowâs announcement in a note to Radcliffe staff.