Agassiz commissioned the Renty and Delia daguerreotypes in 1850 to support polygenism

Evidence

In 1850, to support his theory that Africans descended from a different “zone of creation” than Europeans, and thus were essentially inferior, Agassiz commissioned daguerreotypes of [seven] enslaved people living in South Carolina, [two of whom were] Renty and Delia. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 890