The suit framed Harvard’s defense as a continuation of slavery-era disenfranchisement policies

Evidence

I was stunned by this legal analysis and what it revealed. Harvard’s refusal to recognize my rightful claim over the daguerreotypes was a blatant continuation of the systemic disenfranchisement of Black property rights, a legacy deeply rooted in slavery and aggressively enforced for more than a century. This lawsuit meant so much to me, as we were finally telling the world that Harvard’s actions were emblematic of the ruthless policies that have historically devastated Black life, dismantled families, and erased enslaved identities by stripping away their family names, deliberately withholding essential birth and death records, and criminalizing literacy. I thought of my mom and many other family members who lived most of their lives without a birth certificate—and all the more appreciated the importance of this lawsuit, as I was beginning to understand that it stood for so much more than these artifacts. It was evidence of all the ways in which enslavement robbed African Americans—of their dignity, their humanity. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1033

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: a living descendant without a birth certificate confronting an archive that intentionally erased records — the personal face of archival violence.