Repatriation of enslaved people’s images can be imagined as a ceremonial home-going

Evidence

As we made our way back across the campus, Ben started to chant “Free Renty!” and others joined in. Our small, powerful protest. Then someone started singing “We Shall Overcome” and we all sang together, arms linked. As we sang, I thought to myself, We shall, we must. Renty and Delia had been held captive at this institution for too long. It was time to let them come home. By then I was imagining a repatriation that included a ceremonial process, a home-going that would restore their dignity and offer them an appropriate final resting place. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 956

Categorization

Category: Inspiration and Speculation

• FICTION: The imagined ‘home-going’ ceremony for repatriated images — a people held captive by an archive for a century being carried home in procession — is a compelling narrative image worth a scene.
• ADDENDUM: Connects directly to the reader’s stated thesis that property law is the afterlife of slavery: the images as ‘captives’ held by Harvard reframes archival possession as continued enslavement of the person depicted.

Related

• Lanier framed her claim as repatriating enslaved ancestors, not just winning a lawsuit (similarity 0.83)
• Lanier frames the Renty v. Harvard case as the restitution of enslaved cultural property (similarity 0.79)