Tamara Lanier took on Harvard in a reparations case that is pivotal for the ancestors of slaves in America. Her ancestor, Papa Renty was an enslaved Black African man from the Congo and her mother who was sick wanted Tamara to take down the oral history of what she remembered being passed down through the family about him. She wanted her daughter to find Papa Renty and Tamara followed through on that promise.

Tamara came across the mention of a Papa Renty in research and with it were photos, the first daguerreotypes (which were early photographic process employing an iodine-sensitized silvered plate & mercury vapor) and it was a photo of Papa Renty. The Papa Renty who was defiant, strong and who learned how to read and taught others how to read. The study that Papa Renty was used in was by a Harvard professor, Louis Agassiz who tried to argue that Black people were inferior to white people through physical science. He argued that they were not able to read or were even capable of thought. He was a horribly racist man, and his study has left lasting stereotypes of Black people to this day.

But where were these photos? Harvard had them and Tamara tried to connect with Harvard to get them to acknowledge all the information passed down through her family about Papa Renty as a person. Appealing to their humanity to counter Agassiz's narrative and provide the evidence she had of him teaching people to read, his defiance even at 13 demanding a checked shirt that is documented in paperwork by the white people that enslaved him. She worked with world renowned genealogists, hobby ones and historians alike and was able to unearth a mountain of records showing the connection she had to him and his history but still Harvard would not bend. She was not even supposed to use the image of Papa Renty in any way, but she defied that because he was her ancestor.

She fought the court and I do not want to give away too much of the case and what happened because I want you to read it first hand and experience the ups and downs that came with Tamara's fight for justice.

This book was so powerful and showcases why we CANNOT erase the history of what slavery was and its impact even today. Tamara sat down with the descendants of those that enslaved her family and ate lunch with them. She sat at the table that her ancestors made with their hands. She was able to connect with the ancestors of Agassiz and see the remorse and willingness they had to make right the wrongs of their relatives. Even if your family didn't own slaves. Even if your family didn't participate in racist studies, they were complicit in the abuse and enslavement of Black people. Healing cannot be done until reparations are made, and reparations is taking accountability, giving back and allowing the ancestors of the enslaved to have power of the artifacts and history of their loved ones. They deserve to have their histories recognized, acknowledges and made accessible to all.

I cannot stress the importance of books like this one, especially given today's fight to hide and erase Black history even more.