The court ruled that Harvard would respond to a lawsuit involving ‘horrific’ photos of slaves

By Nate Raymond

Boston (Reuters) The Massachusetts High Court on Thursday ruled that Harvard University may sue for abusing the descendants of slaves who were forced to be photographed in 1850 for the study of a professor who tried to prove the inferiority complex of black people.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that Harvard had a “terrible and historical role” in the making of the films, and that the university had a duty to respond carefully to Tamara Lanier’s request for information about the films, which the university did not do.

But the court ruled that the university did not need to hand over the photos to Lonier, and ruled that despite the “defamatory” circumstances, the Connecticut woman had no right over them.

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This decision somewhat revives the case that Lanier started in 2019. Lanier and his lawyers, Ben Crump and Josh Goskoff, said in a joint statement that the “historic” decision would allow “this legal and moral battle for justice to continue.”

Harvard, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said it was reconsidering the decision.

The footage shows Randy Taylor and his daughter Telia, slaves in a North Carolina garden forced to undress for photos taken for racist research by Harvard professor Louis Acacis.

Judge Scott Kafker wrote that Harvard “bluntly rejected” Lanier’s claims of an ancestral connection and ignored his request for information on how he used the images.

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