Latest news with #Lanier
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Harvard agrees to transfer photos of enslaved people to black history museum
Harvard University has agreed to hand over a set of historic photos believed to be among the earliest depicting enslaved people in the United States. The agreement ends a long legal battle between the institution and Tamara Lanier, an author from Connecticut who argues she is a descendant of two people shown in the photos. The images, taken in 1850, will be transferred to the International African American Museum in South Carolina, where the people shown in the photos were enslaved. Harvard said it had always hoped the photos would be given to another museum. Ms Lanier said she was "ecstatic" with the result. The images are daguerreotypes, a very early form of modern-day photographs and were taken 15 years before the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery. The photos were rediscovered in storage at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in 1976. The 15 images feature people identified by the Peabody Museum as Alfred, Delia, Drana, Fassena, Jack, Jem, and Renty. According to Ms Lanier, the settlement would mean the transfer of all the images not just the ones about Renty and Delia. The photos were commissioned by Harvard professor and zoologist Louis Agassizm as part of discredited research to prove the superiority of white people. He espoused polygenism, a now debunked belief that human races evolved separately. The case formed part of public debate around how America's universities should respond to their historic links to slavery. In 2016, Harvard Law School agreed to change a shield that was based on the crest of an 18th Century slaveholder. Harvard did not comment on the details of the settlement but a university spokesperson said it "has long been eager to place the Zealy Daguerreotypes with another museum or other public institution to put them in the appropriate context and increase access to them for all Americans." The spokesperson added that Ms Lanier's "claim to ownership of the daguerreotypes created a complex situation, especially because Harvard has not been able to confirm that Ms Lanier is related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes." Ms Lanier sued Harvard in 2019, arguing the images were taken without consent and accusing the university of profiting from them through large licensing fees. In 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld an earlier ruling that dismissed Ms Lanier's claim to ownership. She was, however, allowed to claim damages for emotional distress. It ruled Harvard had "complicity" in the "horrific actions" surrounding the creation of the images. "Harvard's present obligations cannot be divorced from its past abuses," it added. Ms Lanier told the BBC, she was "ecstatic" about the settlement. "I have always known first of all that I could never care for the daguerreotypes at the level they would require," she said. "There are so many ties that bind Renty and Delia and the other enslaved people to that particular part of South Carolina that to repatriate them there would be like a homecoming ceremony." The South Carolina museum helped Ms Lanier with her genealogy claims but was not involved in the legal battle. Its president said they intend to hold and display the images "in context with truth and empathy." "These are not gentle images and the story behind how they came to be is even more difficult to hear," Tonya Matthews told the BBC. "So to be in a space that has already created room for conversations about the inhumanity of slavery and enslavement and how far those implications echo even to today is what we do and it's our mission." Harvard sued over 'slave ancestor' photos The awkward questions about slavery from US tourists The hidden links between slavery and Wall Street
New York Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Tennessee sharpshooter Chaz Lanier makes his Nets NBA draft pitch
Shooting is the single most coveted skill in the NBA, and the Nets on Thursday worked out the top shooter in the upcoming draft. At least, that's how the confident Chaz Lanier views himself. Advertisement 'I believe I'm the best shooter in the draft,' Lanier told The Post. 'But [also] a competitor, a winner, somebody who wants to win and is going to bring the best effort to the team. 'I feel like I have a proven track record, and I bring maturity and experience onto any team who drafts me. I've shown that I can adapt and continue to develop. And I feel like I'm a more mature and experienced guy who can contribute the right way, and immediately.' Lanier being the draft's top marksman might not be hyperbole. The 6-foot-4 Tennessee off-guard averaged 18 points on 39.5 percent shooting from 3-point territory this season. Advertisement His middling defense and age (23) have him 34th on Tankathon's Big Board and 42nd on ESPN's, putting him in range of the Nets with the No. 36 pick. The Nets also have picks No. 26 and 27, and there are indications some teams view him as a potential first-round target. But Lanier spun that age as experience, as a strong suit. Advertisement 3 Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier, working out at the NFL Combine earlier in the month, worked out with the Nets on May 29, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images 'Some people look at age as a bad thing, and some look at it as a good thing, so I try and put it out there as a good thing,' Lanier said. 'I'm a more mature and experienced player who can bring shooting immediately. A lot of guys are going back to school nowadays with NIL, so the draft is leaning more towards a little bit older guys now … so there's a lot of positives to it.' Lanier worked out with five other prospects Thursday at HSS Training Center, including Volunteers teammate Jahmai Mashack and Colorado State guard Nique Clifford, tabbed to go in the middle of the first round. 3 Chaz Lanier drives to the basket during the NBA Draft Combine on May 13, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images Advertisement Lanier met several Nets players and personnel. 'I pretty much got to meet everybody, from the head coach Jordi Fernández to the assistant GM, the GM,' Lanier said. 'The whole front office was there and the coaching staff, so it was great. It was a great opportunity.' In Lanier's last season at North Florida before transferring, he led the country in offensive efficiency, and his 44 percent from deep also led the nation (among players averaging seven-plus attempts). 3 Volunteers guard Chaz Lanier goes up for a layup during Tennessee's Elite Eight loss to Houston. AP He won the Jerry West Award this season at Tennessee as the nation's top shooting guard, was fourth in the country in 3s (123) and in the 99th percentile in win shares (5.2). A strong draft combine showing also raised Lanier's stock. He led all prospects in spot-up shooting and free-throw shooting. He finished third in standing vertical leap, fifth in lane agility and second in aggregate shooting, trailing only Alabama's Mark Sears. Follow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn Sign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+. Thank you Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Enjoy this Post Sports+ exclusive newsletter! Check out more newsletters Advertisement His skill set could come in handy for a Nets team that wants to take 3s (top 10 in attempts last season) but can't hit them (bottom 10 in percentage). Considering they're in a rebuild, there is a runway toward playing time. 'Definitely a golden opportunity. I feel like everything needs shooting, especially in today's league and the way most teams play,' Lanier said. 'And in Brooklyn, they play an unselfish brand of basketball. You're out there on the court having a great time with your teammates and playing defense, most importantly. 'I really admire the way coach Jordi Fernández really runs the organization. The culture is amazing. Being able to meet with everybody and all the staff, getting to meet some of the players you can tell everybody's bought into the culture. It's not about 'me,' it's about 'we.' And I really admire that about what coach is building.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Harvard agrees to relinquish photos of enslaved people to descendant in Norwich
NORWICH, Conn. (WTNH) — A Norwich woman is claiming victory Thursday night after Harvard agrees to relinquish possession of early photographs of slaves. Tamara Lanier says Renty, a slave in South Carolina, was her great, great, great, grandfather who taught himself how to read. Harvard agrees to relinquish early photos of enslaved people, ending a legal battle In 1850, he and his daughter Delia were the subject of daguerreotypes, an early type of photograph. 'The reason the daguerreotypes were created in the first place was to prove white supremacy,' Lanier said. She said the nude photos were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz. 'As a mother of two daughters I can only imagine the trauma associated with such an experience,' Lanier said. In 2019, she filed a lawsuit against Harvard to try to get the 175 year old photographs released to her family. 'Delia during the taking of the daguerreotypes actually cried,' said Lanier. The lawsuit claims Agassiz announced to the men gathered in the Charleston Literary Club, 'The brain of a negro is that of the imperfect brain of a seven-month's infant in the womb of a White.' 'They gave justification for black inferiority and slavery,' Lanier explained. In what she calls a landmark settlement, Harvard has agreed to relinquish the daguerreotypes from its Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to the International African American Museum in South Carolina. The university released this statement: 'Harvard University has long been eager to place the Zealy Daguerreotypes with another museum or other public institution to put them in the appropriate context and increase access to them for all Americans.' It went on to say: 'While we are grateful to Ms. Lanier for sparking important conversations about these images… Harvard has not been able to confirm that Ms. Lanier is related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes.' 'What I shared with them were official government records, official probate records,' Lanier said. She said U.S. Census information proves her heritage. For those who do not know the story of Renty and Delia it is all laid out in a book Lanier authored entitled 'From These Roots' which also chronicles Lanier's fight from start to finish. 'The legacy will continue through him,' Lanier said while she was holding her grandson Elliott during the News8 interview. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
2 days ago
- General
- USA Today
Harvard will send early photos of enslaved people to a Black museum in Charleston
Harvard will send early photos of enslaved people to a Black museum in Charleston Harvard University will transfer photos of enslaved people to a S.C. museum after legal challenges from a woman who believes she is a descendant Show Caption Hide Caption Museum in Charleston showcases Black history and experiences The International African American Museum president and CEO Tonya Matthews talk about the museum's role in showcasing Black history and experiences. After years of legal challenges, photos of an enslaved man and his daughter held at a Harvard University museum will be transferred to an African American museum in South Carolina where the family is believed to have lived. The nude photos of Renty and his daughter, Delia, taken in March 1850 against their will for a Harvard University professor, were the subject of a 2019 lawsuit filed by Tamara Lanier against Harvard. The photos commissioned by Louis Agassiz, a 19th-century Harvard biologist, are believed to be the earliest photos of American slaves. The images, known as daguerreotypes and taken in a South Carolina studio, were used to promote racist beliefs. Lanier of Connecticut has complained that Harvard has profited over the years off of the photos. "Harvard played a role in the darkest chapter in American history,'' she said in a statement. "This is a small step in the right direction towards fully acknowledging that history and working to rectify it.' Lanier, who believes she is a descendant of Renty, has said her extensive research proved what her mother had told her for years about the family connection. But she said Harvard wouldn't acknowledge that. "I've talked to people all over the state, all over the country, all over the world, and everybody is just seemingly astonished at this discovery," Lanier told USA TODAY in 2019. "Everybody but Harvard." The pictures were held at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology Harvard officials said the university has not been able to confirm that Lanier is related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes. Still, officials said, they are grateful to Lanier for 'sparking important conversations about these images.'' The university has looked to place the daguerreotypes with another museum or other public institution to put them in the appropriate context and increase access to them, said James Chisholm, director of media relations for Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. 'Now that this lawsuit has been resolved, Harvard can move forward towards that goal," he said in a statement. '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." In 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Lanier could sue for emotional distress, but that she could not claim ownership of the photos. Chisholm said because of the court ruling, the university is responsible for transferring the daguerreotypes. It is not clear yet when they will be transferred. The photos will be transferred to the International African American Museum in Charleston. The two-year-old museum houses artifacts of slavery and features the history enslaved Africans in the state. Tonya Matthews, president and CEO of the museum, said the images' return to South Carolina has been '175 years in the making.' She said the museum will host a welcome home ceremony for the artifacts. 'It is critical that images such as these never be forgotten, abused, or have their stories slip into untold history," she said in a statement. 'It is a weighty privilege to become home to these challenging, but precious artifacts. " Harvard has acknowledged its past history of supporting slavery in the United States and Caribbean islands. Some buildings on campus were funded by slave owners, according to a 2022 report published by the university. The Peabody Museum also has some remains of enslaved Africans and Native Americans. Contributed: Joey Garrison
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Harvard agrees to relinquish early photos of enslaved people, ending a long legal battle
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 a woman who says she is 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 US and praised his client's yearslong determination in pursuing justice for the people she had identified as 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. A key question of the case was whether Harvard could legally be allowed to continue owning dehumanizing images of enslaved people who couldn't consent to taking part. The Massachusetts court system ultimately sided with Harvard on the question of ownership, but allowed Lanier to continue to pursue emotional damages from the institution. Harvard said Wednesday that it had long been working to relinquish ownership of the images 'to put them in the appropriate context and increase access to them for all Americans.' Negotiations between Harvard and Lanier lawyers resulted in a settlement that included the removal of the images from Harvard's ownership. On Wednesday, Lanier stood holding a portrait of Papa Renty while arm-in-arm with Susanna Moore, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, who commissioned the images on behalf of the university and whose theories on racial difference were once used to support slavery in the US. Both great-great-great grandaughters — one of enslaved people and another of a man who exploited them — praised the resolution. 'This is a moment in history where the sons and daughters of stolen ancestors can stand with pride and rightfully proclaim a victory for reparations,' Lanier said. 'This pilfered property, images taken without dignity or consent and used to promote a racist psychoscience will now be repatriated to a home where their stories can be told and their humanity can be restored.' Moore called the images captured by her ancestor, Agassiz, a 'deeply racist project.' 'This victory reminds us that the meaning of such objects in museums can and should change,' she said. 'This woman standing next to me, she knew all along she was not small and she was not alone.' In 2019, Lanier sued Harvard, alleging the images were taken 'without Renty's and Delia's consent and therefore unlawfully retained.' The suit attacked Harvard for its 'exploitation' of Renty's image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. It said Harvard has capitalized on the photos by demanding a 'hefty' licensing fee to reproduce the images. Agassiz came across Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially 'pure' enslaved individuals born in Africa, according to Lanier's suit. To create the images, both Renty and Delia were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles. 'To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens,' the suit said. 'The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered.' In 2021, a Massachusetts court ruled that photos are the property of the photographer, not the subject — a stance affirmed by the Massachusetts Supreme Court. However, while Harvard sought to have the case dismissed, the state high court allowed the case to proceed on Lanier's claim to emotional distress damages. The state's highest court recognized 'Harvard's complicity in the horrific actions surrounding the creation of the daguerreotypes,' saying that 'Harvard's present obligations cannot be divorced from its past abuses.' In a statement, Harvard said it had 'long been eager to place the Zealy Daguerreotypes with another museum or other public institution.' 'This settlement now allows us to move forward towards that goal,' the university said. 'While we are grateful to Ms. Lanier for sparking important conversations about these images, this was a complex situation, particularly since Harvard has not confirmed that Ms. Lanier was related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes.' Tonya M. Matthews, the CEO of the International African American Museum, called Harvard's relinquishing of the images a moment '175 years in the making.' 'The bravery, tenacity, and grace shown by Ms. Lanier throughout the long and arduous process of returning these critical pieces of Renty and Delia's story to South Carolina is a model for us all,' she said in a statement. The South Carolina museum has committed to working with Lanier and including her in decisions about how the story of the images will be told. In Lanier's lawsuit, she asked for Harvard to acknowledge its complicity in slavery, listen to Lanier's oral family history and pay an unspecified sum in damages. An undisclosed financial settlement was part of the resolution with Harvard announced Wednesday, but Koskoff said Harvard still hasn't publicly acknowledged Lanier's connection to them or its connection to perpetuating slavery in the US, Koskoff said. 'That is just left unanswered by Harvard,' he said. Koskoff said he wants to be clear that Lanier and his team 'firmly support' Harvard's current fight against the administration of US President Donald Trump as the White House moves to cut billions in federal aid and block the enrollment of international students, accusing the institution of being a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism. 'We are not here today to bash Harvard… but that doesn't mean that they are perfect, and that doesn't mean that they don't have the obligation to tell a full history, even one that sheds poorly on their own veritas,' he said. He said Lanier isn't expecting or waiting to hear from the institution, but that the settlement speaks for itself. 'In the end, the truth will find you — you can you can only hide from it for so long,' he said. 'Yes, history is written by the winners. But over time, you know, those winners look like losers sometimes.'
