A Connecticut woman, Lanier, has had her lawsuit against Harvard University dismissed, alleging that Harvard illegally used a photograph of her ancestors, Ritley and his daughter, naked in the photo. (Getty Images)
A Massachusetts state judge dismissed the case of a Connecticut woman, Tamara Lanier. A Massachusetts judge dismissed a complaint filed by a Connecticut woman, Tamara Lanier, against Harvard University, which she said illegally used photos of her ancestors in slavery and refused to return them.
The dismissed lawsuit is based on a series of photographs from the 1850s of what is considered the earliest group of slaves in the United States; the photographs depict a South Carolina man, Renty, and his daughter, Delia, without their tops on and photographed from multiple angles.
The photographs were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose theories of racial disparity were used to support slavery in the United States at the Time.
Lanier, a Norwich, Conn. resident, said in her 2019 lawsuit that Ritley and Delia were her ancestors and that the photos were taken against their will; Lanier is demanding the photos back from Harvard and accuses the university of using them for profit, including using the Ritley photo as a book cover.
Raniere’s lawsuit alleges that Agassiz viewed Ritley and Delia only as “research samples” and forced them to participate in “a low-level campaign designed to corroborate the status of subhuman beings.
The lawsuit states that Lanier verified her familial relationship with “Papa Renty,” whom she described as her “great-great-great-grandfather.
However, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Camille Saraf, who is a member of the Middlesex Court of Appeals, said that she is a “great-great-great-grandfather. During the hearing, Judge Camille Sarrouf sided with Harvard, who argued that Lanier did not have legal ownership of the photos; Sarrouf pointed out that the photos belonged to the photographer, not to the subject.
Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing Lanier, said Lanier intends to appeal.
In the statement, Harvard said it is looking for a suitable location to store the photos so that the wider public can access them and tell the stories of enslaved people.
Lanier, a Connecticut woman whose lawsuit against Harvard University was dismissed, said Harvard illegally used photos of her ancestors’ enslavement.
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