Copyright: A Critical Lens
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/jcel.v9i1.24354Abstract
Keynote Presentation by Sandra Aya Enimil for the 12th Annual Kraemer Copyright Conference. For this presentation, I focused on a few areas – publishing, music, and images. I did not intend to provide a comprehensive breakdown of all the ways that racism, sexism and the other issues, or as one of my colleagues said when I explained some of this to her “the ‘isms” interact with copyright. I pride myself on my ability to speak practically about copyright. My ability to share and translate the law in ways that are helpful and hopefully useful. Today, I am interested in sharing with you how I came to learn and think about practical remedies and discussions as it interacts with race and copyright.
References
Copyright.gov. (2022). Copyright Office releases report on women in the copyright system. https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2022/968.html
Copyright.gov. (2022). Women in the copyright system. https://www.copyright.gov/policy/women-in-copyright-system/
Daley, J. (2009, March 22). Why these early images of American slavery have led to a lawsuit against Harvard. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/woman-sues-harvard-over-earliest-images-enslaved-americans-180971772/
Di Liscia, V. (2021, October 27). Legal precedents or reparations? Lawsuit against Harvard may decide who owns images of enslaved people. Hyperallergic. https://hyperallergic.com/lawsuit-against-harvard-may-decide-who-owns-images-of-enslaved-people/
Hartocollis, A. (2019, March 20). Who should own photos of slaves? The descendants, not Harvard, a lawsuit says. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/us/slave-photographs-harvard.html
Lanier v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 191 N.E.3d 1063 (Mass. 2022).
Raymond, N. (2022, June 23). Harvard must face lawsuit over 'horrific' slave photos -Massachusetts court. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/harvard-must-face-lawsuit-over-horrific-slave-photos-massachusetts-court-2022-06-23/
Schlueter, R. (2017, February 23). White singers paid the fees, but Black singers didn’t get the money. Belleville News-Democrat. https://www.bnd.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/answer-man/article134070984.html
Willingham, L. (2025, May 28). Harvard ends legal battle over early photos of enslaved people, agrees to relinquish images. PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/harvard-ends-legal-battle-over-early-photos-of-enslaved-people-agrees-to-relinquish-images
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Copyright (c) 2026 Sandra Aya Enimil
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
