Harvard rejected ownership claims while profiting from Agassiz’s images through publication and display

Evidence

Earlier that November, Bacow had launched a “university-wide initiative to address and further research the school’s ties to slavery” and designated $5 million for the program. But both Meredith and the Free Renty Coalition thought that was not nearly enough. They did not let up. On February 20, 2020, several weeks after the panel discussion, Meredith sent another letter to Harvard administrators, including President Bacow and Jane Pickering, who had replaced Ilisa Barbash at the Peabody. The title of the four-page missive was “Harvard Human Subject Complaint: The Gross Mishandlings of the Harvard 7 Dataset.” She then meticulously outlined all the ways in which she believed Harvard’s insistence on “ownership” of the images was wrong, stating: “Their images and information, commissioned by Harvard’s Louis Agassiz, have been repeatedly published in newspapers, were released online by Harvard for public access, and remain on display at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Additionally, the personal information of these subjects and their images continue to be sold and circulated in a variety of publications and forthcoming books authored by Peabody affiliates, for profit.” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1018