Thread by @ReichlinMelnick

I want to share this story both for the fascinating questions it raises and something more personal.

You see, the person who rediscovered these photos in 1976 was my grandmother, Elinor Reichlin, and she was responsible for them seeing the light of day.
nytimes.com/2019/03/20/us/…

In 1976, my grandmother Ellie was going through dusty cabinets in the Peabody Museum and came across a tin filled with fragile daguerreotypes.

After some hard work, she was able to reveal that they were the earliest pictures of enslaved Americans.

nytimes.com/1977/05/31/arc…

What my grandmother discovered was that these pictures had been taken in 1850 by Louis Agassiz, who was trying to prove “scientifically” that Africans were a different species and thus inferior.

Here’s the article my grandmother wrote on the pictures. americanheritage.com/faces-slavery

Here’s a picture of Renty, one of the people that Agassiz had photographed. He was stolen from his home in West Africa and enslaved in America.

But god, there is so much strength in his eyes.

Today, one of his descendants, Tamara Lanier, is suing to get the original picture.

My grandmother was a passionate humanitarian her entire life (she tragically passed in 2011).

When she found these pictures in that dusty box, she didn’t have to dedicate a year of her life to telling their story. But I imagine her sense of injustice must have driven her.

The story doesn’t end with her article, though!

In 2017, my grandfather came across an article about Ms. Lanier, who was trying to find out more about her ancestors and the story of those photos.

So my grandfather wrote her a letter. And she got it. theday.com/article/201102…

Since 2017, my grandfather has been in contact with Ms. Lanier. They have talked over email and bonded about making sure that Renty and Delia’s story is not forgotten. And I think they even met up last summer.

My grandfather speculated that the photos my grandmother found had been shoved in an attic and forgotten because their racist origins were an embarrassment for Harvard given Agassiz’s prominence (statues, buildings, etc...).

Today Ms. Lanier sued Harvard to get them back.

I haven’t read the lawsuit so I can’t comment on the legal claims, but it shows that the generational injuries caused by slavery are barely scabbed over.

Unlike my grandfather, I haven’t had the good fortune of meeting Ms. Lanier. But I wish her the best. wbur.org/news/2019/03/2…