Tamara Lanier remembers hearing stories about her great-great-great grandfather, Renty Taylor. Many came from her mother whose own grandfather was a slave.
“He lived many years as a slave and made slavery real for my mother,” Lanier said.
But when her mother passed nearly two decades ago, she made Lanier promise she would trace and document her family’s history.
“This was 2010 and access to information wasn’t what it is today,” Lanier said. “I couldn’t sit on my phone and scroll and find this information.”
So, Lanier enlisted the help of a friend, an ice cream shop owner, who helped her track down an image of the man she had heard so much about, Papa Renty.
She says she’ll never forget the first time she saw it. The image was a daguerreotype, a photograph made long before film.
“There was so much that was familiar,” Lanier said. “But there was something about the stare in his eyes that captured my soul.”
This wasn’t just any photo. It had been taken against Renty’s will. It was part of a Harvard scientist’s work to support racist theories that Black people were inferior and justify slavery.
Lanier shared her story Thursday at the International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charleston as it prepares to unveil an exhibit of Renty’s daguerreotype as well as six others – Delia, Jack, Drana, Fassena, Alfred and Jem.
The museum says the exhibit called “They Lived” reclaims the narrative and the identities of those photographed in dehumanizing ways. Many are nude. And so much about them is still unknown.
“In doing this work, we will have the opportunity to excavate more and more histories and stories that we’ll have the opportunity to share,” IAAM Chief Learning and Engagement Officer Malika Pryor said.
“So, it’s an evolving exhibit as much as it is a momentous occasion.”
But the occasion didn’t come without a fight.
In 2019, Lanier sued Harvard University to release the images. Six years later, she won. Harvard transferred the daguerreotypes to IAAM earlier this year. They were taken in South Carolina.
Lanier says she's eager to share what she’s learned about Papa Renty throughout the years.
“He was literate,” she said. “He taught people to read. He taught people to write. He would teach them the Bible.”
More than 175 years later, Lanier hopes Papa Renty can continue to teach, this time about the atrocities of slavery.
The new IAAM exhibit opens Friday, Oct. 16th. The museum is also hosting a homecoming weekend with a number of festivities, including a free celebration Saturday with food and family activities.