The Harvard University agreed to hand over a set of historical photos, which is believed to be one of the earliest enslaved people in the US.
The agreement concludes a long legal struggle between the institution and Tamara Lanier, the descendants of the Connecticut, who claims to be the offspring of two people displayed in the photos.
The images made in 1850 will be transferred to the international African American museums in South Carolina, where people were enslaved.
Harvard said he always hoped that the photos would be given to another museum. Mrs. Lanier said she was “ecstasy” with a result.
The images are daguerreotypes, very early in the form of modern photos and have been taken for 15 years to the abolition of the 13th US Constitutional Amendment.
The photos were rediscovered by storing Harvard Peabody in the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology in 1976.
15 images depicted by people that Peabody Museum identified as Alfred, Delia, Drana, Fassena, Jack, Jem and Event. According to Mrs. Lanier, the settlement would mean transferring all the images not just about renting and Delia.
The photos were commissioned by Harvard professor and zoolologist Louis Agasism as part of discredited research to prove the advantage of white people. He spoke in favor of polygenism, now unregistered belief that human races had developed separately.
The case has been part of public debate about how American universities should respond to their historical relationships with slavery. 2016 The Harvard Law School agreed to replace the shield based on an 18th century slave.
Harvard did not comment on the detailed information about the agreement, but a university spokesman said “long ago wants Zealy Daguerreotypes to be with another museum or other public institutions to increase their access to all Americans.”
The interlocutor added that Mrs. Lanier’s “claim to Daguerreotypes has created a difficult situation, especially since Harvard has failed to confirm that Mrs. Lanier is associated with individuals in the Dagerotype.”
One of the images depicts rent with daughter Delia [Getty Images]
Mrs. Lanier 2019 Filed a lawsuit against Harvard, stating that the images were made without consent and accusing the university’s profits from them excessive licensing fees.
2022 The Supreme Court of Massachusetts approved the previous ruling, which rejected Mrs. Lanier’s claim for ownership. However, she was allowed to claim harm for emotional suffering. It ruled that Harvard had “complicity” in “horrible actions” surrounding the creation of images.
“Harvard’s current obligations cannot be separated from previous abuses,” he added.
Mrs. Lanier said the BBC that she was “ecstasy” about the settlement. “I always knew first that I could never worry about Daguerreotypes at the level they would need,” she said.
“There are so many relationships that bind the rent and Delia, while others enslaved people with that particular part of South Carolina to make a home ceremony to repatriate them.”
The South Carolina Museum helped Mrs. Lanier bring her own genealogy, but did not participate in a legal fight. Its president said they were going to hold and show images “in context with truth and empathy”.
“These are not gentle images and it is even harder to hear the story of how they came,” Tonya Matthews told BBC.
“So to be in space that has already created a space for conversation about the inhumanity of slavery and enslavement, and how we do what we do is our mission.”