Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard

This documentary tells the powerful, deeply personal story of Tamara Lanier, who is fighting to reclaim the daguerreotypes of her great-great-great-grandfather, Renty, an enslaved man photographed in 1850 at the direction of a Harvard professor seeking to “prove” white racial superiority.

Through Lanier’s groundbreaking legal battle against Harvard University, the film confronts the enduring legacy of racist science and raises urgent questions about ownership, memory, and justice. Created through coercion and dehumanization, these images remain stark symbols of America’s unfinished reckoning with slavery and white supremacy. Featuring civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, and scholars Ariella Azoulay and Tina Campt, the documentary challenges viewers to reconsider who controls history, and who should.