Harvard Relinquishes Historic Slave Photos to South Carolina Museum

Harvard University has agreed to relinquish ownership of historically significant daguerreotypes depicting an enslaved man, Renty Taylor, and his daughter Delia, ending a years-long lawsuit initiated by Tamara Lanier, their descendant. The images, taken in 1850 by Harvard Professor Louis Agassiz to support racist theories of Black inferiority, had been held by Harvard's Peabody Museum but will now be transferred to the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, the state where the photos were originally taken. Lanier's legal battle, which began in 2019 after Harvard repeatedly refused to return the images or acknowledge its complicity in slavery, was revived by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 2022, recognizing the emotional distress caused by Harvard's actions. Harvard's settlement is seen as a significant victory for descendants of enslaved people, reclaiming control over images that had been exploited for centuries and restoring them to their cultural and familial context. The transfer marks an important step toward acknowledging and rectifying Harvard's historical role in racial exploitation. The photographs will be publicly displayed as part of the museum's mission to honestly present the African-American experience.