Refusal to be photographed was impossible for enslaved persons under threat of violence

Evidence

Ben reiterated what Josh had said about Renty and Delia being victims, but he took it a step further by asking the judge to consider what might have happened if my ancestors had refused to be photographed. “They would have been beaten. They would have been starved. They would have been tortured to death. Put simply, it is clear beyond any doubt that Renty and Delia would never have been given any option to refuse. These pictures were created at Harvard’s direction and at Renty’s expense, at Delia’s expense, at the expense of Renty’s lineal descendants and at the expense of every lineal descendant of African slavery in America.” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1184

Categorization

• XREF: The counterfactual (what if they refused) is a powerful argumentative move that grounds the coercion behind the images—this is the consent question at the heart of Lanier’s case.