Harvard agrees to relinquish early photos of slaves, ending a long legal battle

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University will relinquish 175-year-old photographs believed to be the earliest taken of enslaved people to a South Carolina museum devoted to African American history as part of a settlement with one of the subjects' descendants.

The photos of the subjects identified by Tamara Lanier as her great-great-great-grandfather Renty, whom she calls “Papa Renty," and his daughter Delia will be transferred from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to the International African American Museum in South Carolina, the state where they were enslaved in 1850 when the photos were taken, a lawyer for Lanier said Wednesday.

The settlement marks the end of a 15-year battle between Lanier and the esteemed university to release the 19th-century “daguerreotypes," a precursor to modern-day photographs. Lanier’s attorney Joshua Koskoff told The Associated Press that the resolution is an “unprecedented” victory for descendants of those enslaved in the U.S. and praised his client's yearslong determination in pursuing justice for her ancestors.

“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.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/15-battle-harvard-agrees-settlement-121026330.html

That's good. When I first clicked on the article, I thought maybe Trump was after the photos because they cast our country in a bad light.

[malaise]

1. I did wonder the same

Great news

[Baitball Blogger]

2. And now that we know they exist, when can we see them?

This part of history should never be buried in a vault.

[dickthegrouch]

3. Unfortunately exposing them to light will probably destroy them

They will have to be carefully prepared if they are to remain on public view.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. With the technology we have today, they can be digitally duplicated.

[dickthegrouch]

5. And therefore Harvard has to relinquish them, why?

I agree having the original in a more appropriate place is a good thing. I guess I was reading too literally the “When can we see them”. If a copy is good enough, fine.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. They're easily found via google; they're in the public domain

[Ms. Toad]

7. I'm glad there was a settlement.

Legally, it would have been a challenging case, and the family could easily have lost.

This way the daguerrotypes are out of the control of the entity that was complicit in creating them, and in perpetuating hurtful stereotypes, and they will have the potential to spark conversations guided by the people most directly harmed by them.

[debsy]

8. I found an informative 2019 interview from Democracy Now!

From the interview page:

Who has the right to own photos of slaves? We speak with Tamara Lanier, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Papa Renty, the enslaved man whose image was captured in a 19th century photograph currently owned by Harvard University. She is suing the school, accusing it of unfairly profiting from the images. We also speak with her attorney, Benjamin Crump.

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/29/the_world_is_watching_woman_suing]