Reckoning With Institutions ...

 

This past Saturday, my local branch of the Chicago Public Library showed the documentary "Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard" (which you can find online for free) as one of their Black History Month showings. 

FREE RENTY tells the story of Tamara Lanier, an African American woman determined to force Harvard University to cede possession of daguerreotypes of her great-great-great grandfather, an enslaved man named Renty. The daguerreotypes were commissioned in 1850 by a Harvard professor to "prove" the superiority of the white race. The images remain emblematic of America’s failure to acknowledge the cruelty of slavery, the racist science that supported it and the white supremacy that continues to infect our society today. The film focuses on Lanier and tracks her lawsuit against Harvard, and features attorney Benjamin Crump, author Ta-Nehisi Coates and scholars Ariella Azoulay and Tina Campt.

The documentary highlighted the white supremacy and racism that was, and in many cases still is, at the heart of our institutions, whether or not those institutions want to acknowledge it. The film was a reminder of how deeply entrenched white supremacy and racism really are in our museum and academic collections and in how so many of those collections were formed.

In addition, the documentary asked who should own pieces of the problematic history of this country and what we should do about that problematic history today. Or, in other words, who should control the narrative? Our institutions are still financially benefiting from many of the items they collected without informed consent.

While in this case I think it was very clear Tamara Lanier should have won her lawsuit, the film shows the challenge of trying to find easy answers to complex questions such as how to reckon with white supremacy and racism in our institutions. In what cases should items be returned? Should items always be returned? What is the purpose of having institutions such as museums? What responsibility do museums have in terms of how they collect their collections?