Historic Photos of Enslaved Individuals Find New Home at South Carolina Museum

Harvard University has transferred what are believed to be the first photographs of enslaved individuals in the U.S. to the International African American Museum in South Carolina. This follows a legal settlement reached last year, in which the university relinquished ownership of the images.

The photographs feature an enslaved father and daughter, compelled to be photographed in 1850 for a study aiming to prove Black inferiority. The settlement resolved a lawsuit by a descendant of those depicted, who argued for rightful ownership of the photos taken without consent.

The International African American Museum in Charleston stated, "More than 175 years after they were created, the 1850 Daguerreotypes have returned to South Carolina, where the individuals were enslaved and photographed." The images, once tools of pseudoscience, are now recontextualized to honor the lives of the subjects.