After a fifteen-year legal dispute, Harvard University has given up ownership of 175-year-old daguerreotypes, considered the oldest known photographs of enslaved people in the United States, to the International African American Museum in South Carolina. The photographs show Renty Taylor, an enslaved man, and his daughter Delia. They were taken in 1850 at the request of Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz as part of a deeply racist study meant to support the false and pseudoscientific idea of polygenism, which wrongly argued that people of African descent were inferior.
This settlement is a major win for Tamara Lanier, a great-great-great-granddaughter of Renty and Delia, who started the legal fight in 2019. According to AP News, the photographs, taken by Joseph T. Zealy, were not simple portraits. They were part of a cruel and dehumanizing process. Renty and Delia, along with other enslaved individuals, were forced to pose naked and were photographed from different angles, their bodies treated as nothing more than objects for Agassiz’s research.
Because of this, these images are not just a record of slavery but also a reminder of the brutal scientific racism that supported it. For years, these daguerreotypes stayed in Harvard’s possession, sometimes used for academic purposes and even licensed for a fee. As reported by Washington Post, Lanier’s lawsuit claimed that Harvard’s ownership and use of these images, taken without her ancestors’ consent, was both morally and legally wrong.
Harvard finally gives up enslavement photos
The legal fight was complicated. In 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that Lanier did not have the right to own the photographs because she was not related to the photographer or the original owners. However, the court recognized Harvard’s role in the historical injustices tied to the creation of the images and allowed Lanier’s claim for emotional distress damages to move forward. This opened the door for the eventual settlement.
The full details of the settlement have not been shared, and the amount of any financial compensation remains private. However, it was publicly confirmed that Harvard would give up the daguerreotypes to the South Carolina museum. Harvard’s continued statement that they could not definitively prove Lanier’s family connection to Renty and Delia shows how difficult tracing lineage across generations of enslaved people can be.
Harvard could legally be allowed to continue owning dehumanizing images of enslaved people who couldn’t consent to taking part. The Mass court system ultimately sided with Harvard…BUT belly ached about those immigrants rights…the f*cking racist double standard…Ughhh
— JerzCe (@Cecee37171246) May 29, 2025
Harvard has been going through a rough week. This comes only days after firing a professor for shady dealings and in the middle of a lawsuit with Trump.
Lanier and her legal team called the settlement a huge victory, not just for her family but for all descendants of enslaved people. They described the return of the photographs as a form of reparations, recognizing the moral duty to address the historical wrongs committed by the university. The transfer to the International African American Museum is seen as extremely important. This museum, which focuses on telling the stories of African Americans, is seen as a much more fitting and respectful place for these artifacts.
The museum’s CEO said they were proud to become the home of these “difficult but precious artifacts” and promised to work with Lanier to make sure the photographs are displayed in a way that honors the humanity of Renty and Delia. While stating that it wanted to move the daguerreotypes to a more appropriate setting for some time, Harvard did not publicly admit its historical role in supporting slavery or confirm Lanier’s direct family ties to Renty and Delia. This lack of acknowledgment shows the ongoing struggle between the university’s effort to present itself as progressive and its difficult history tied to slavery.
