Harvard framed Lanier’s case as resting on enslaved persons owning their own images

Evidence

All but one of Ms. Lanier’s claims rests on the legal assertion that Ms. Lanier has a property interest in the daguerreotypes of Delia and Renty at the Peabody Museum because (i) the enslaved individuals depicted in these daguerreotypes are the rightful owners of the daguerreotypes due to the horrific circumstances in which they were created; and (ii) Ms. Lanier, as a descendant of those individuals, now possesses their property interest. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1165

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely states Harvard’s characterization of the contested legal theory: that escaped the circumstances of creation confers ownership of the photograph onto the depicted person.