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Harvard will give up a pair of photographs of an enslaved man and his daughter after agreeing to settle a lawsuit over ownership of the images with Tamara K. Lanier — a woman who claims she

is descended from the individuals depicted. Per the settlement, the University plans to transfer seven images of enslaved individuals — including the two photographs named in the lawsuit —

to the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, the state in which the images’ subjects had been enslaved. Benjamin L. Crump, one of Lanier’s attorneys, said that

the University also reached a “confidential monetary settlement” with Lanier as part of the agreement, as reported by CBS News. Harvard’s settlement decision serves as the conclusion to a

six-year legal battle. Lanier — who filed a lawsuit against the University in 2019 over its possession of the daguerreotypes — claims that she is the great-great-great granddaughter of one

of the individuals pictured, Renty. The other is his daughter, Delia. Lanier had previously expressed a desire to see the images transferred from Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and

Ethnology, where they are currently displayed, to a museum dedicated to African American history. In a press conference, Lanier said that the settlement is a watershed moment for America’s

reckoning with its legacy of slavery — as Lanier’s case is the first, filed by descendants of enslaved individuals, to survive a motion to dismiss. “For the first time in the history of this

country, a major American institution has offered a tangible remedy to atone for its legacy of slavery and the profound harm it has inflicted,” she said. “This is more than a legal

resolution, it’s a reckoning. It’s reparations,” Lanier added. Advertisement Joshua D. Koskoff, one of Lanier’s attorneys, wrote in a press release that, for Renty and Delia, today’s

settlement is emblematic of “freedom from spiritual enslavement” by Harvard. “This is not just an unlikely personal victory for the Lanier family, it is also a win for the importance of

truth and the power of history at a time when both values are under unprecedented assault,” Koskoff added. Harvard did not provide reasoning for its decision to move the images six years

after Lanier’s original suit. The University previously denied Lanier’s request and has repeatedly claimed that Lanier has provided insufficient evidence to prove her genealogy. But Lanier

alleged in a talk this year that Harvard never looked into her ancestral connections to the individuals. In response to a request for comment, Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson James

Chisholm wrote that Harvard had “long been eager” to move the daguerreotypes to another museum, which he wrote is now possible thanks to the lawsuit’s closure. “Throughout this process,

Harvard has been committed to stewarding the daguerreotypes in a responsible manner and finding an institutional home for them where their historical significance is appreciated and

contributes to a greater understanding of their place in our nation’s history,” Chisholm wrote. According to the University, both internal and external genealogists had examined Lanier’s

family tree for Harvard. In her initial 2019 suit, Lanier alleged that Harvard violated copyright law by indirectly profiting from images of her ancestors and requested the University return

the daguerreotypes, along with all profits made from the photographs, to her. Once the case reached the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 2022, the Court threw out Lanier’s property

claim, ruling that Lanier had no legal ownership of the daguerreotypes on the basis of descending from the depicted individuals. However, the Court partially revived the lawsuit on the

individual claim that the University inflicted emotional distress upon Lanier. The daguerreotypes were captured by Harvard professor Louis Agassiz, who advocated for polygenism — a theory

that postulates human races have evolved from different origins and that was used by scholars to justify slavery. Agassiz had commissioned the images in 1850 as part of an effort to prove

that Black individuals were biologically inferior to their white counterparts. “Papa Renty was taken from his descendants and used to promote a lie – but today, he has finally been returned

to the love and care of his family,” Crump wrote in a press release. “This historic settlement is a step forward in the pursuit of justice and a recognition of the pain caused by the dark

history of exploiting enslaved people.” Advertisement Lanier published a book in January titled “From These Roots: My Fight with Harvard to Reclaim my Legacy” about her genealogical research

and her journey to claiming ownership over the daguerreotypes. “While we are grateful to Ms. Lanier for sparking important conversations about these images, her claim to ownership of the

daguerreotypes created a complex situation,” Chisholm wrote. “Harvard has not been able to confirm that Ms. Lanier is related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes.” In the press

conference, Lanier emphasized the importance of the settlement, which she described as “not just a victory for my family.” “It’s a victory for every descendant who has carried the weight of

a stolen past and dared to demand it back,” she said. —Staff writer Sophie Gao can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @sophiegao22. —Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can

be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves. —Staff writer Annabel M. Yu can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @annabelmyu.