Agassiz’s own descendants publicly demanded reparations alongside the enslaved family’s descendants

Evidence

I was so swept up in the moment that I was caught off-guard when Ben next announced that I would say a few words. I had not prepared anything, and was still reeling from the fact that Susanna, the descendant of Louis Agassiz, was insisting on reparations—a term that was still considered radioactive. Yet this was an example of her speaking her truth, and not hiding behind shame. It was the past and the present colliding, where the descendants of two men, one who had greatly harmed the other, decided to stand in solidarity together to model and force a conversation about reparations and what that means—to us, to this nation. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 944

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reparations academic argument (Coates is named) and the living logic of Agassiz’s own family crossing sides.