|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Hal C Clarke
One of New York City’s renowned museums, the American Museum of Natural History, is taking steps to address a historical issue related to its collection of approximately 12,000 human remains.
The museum acknowledges that its past practices involved acquiring these remains, sometimes from Indigenous and Black communities, in ways that perpetuated racial injustice and inequality.
The NY Post recently reported about this interesting anthropological cause célèbre taking place at the illustrious museum.
The institution is currently in the process of examining a dozen exhibits featuring human remains to ascertain their origins and identities. Sean M. Decatur, the museum’s president, acknowledges that these collections were formed through a history of power imbalances. Furthermore, he points out that in the 19th and 20th centuries, some researchers used these collections to support flawed scientific theories rooted in white supremacy, particularly in identifying physical differences that reinforced racial hierarchies.
The museum’s extensive collection includes a reconstructed skeleton of a 1000 AD Mongolian warrior and a Tibetan apron from the 19th century made of human bones. However, the most problematic part of the collection consists of skeletons taken from graves within the city and state, including the bones of five Black adults stolen from a Manhattan cemetery for enslaved individuals in 1903. This desecration was captured in a photograph.
Decatur, who is African American, recognizes the significance of addressing racial issues in the collection, emphasizing the ongoing legacy of dehumanizing Black bodies even after death in the name of scientific research.
The museum also possesses a “medical collection” containing the remains of around 400 individuals, primarily from poor backgrounds, who died in the 1940s. These remains were initially handed over to medical schools and later transferred to the museum, which some legal scholars have argued was likely an illegal process. However, the largest and most criticized part of the collection comprises the remains of 2,200 Native Americans. The museum was legally required to return these bones to their rightful descendants three decades ago under the Native-American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, but the identification of the tribes has been slow. Nevertheless, the museum has returned 1,000 skeletons in the last 30 years.
As part of its new policy, the museum will ensure the proper care of these remains within the institution until they are approved for return. Decatur emphasizes the ethical dilemmas associated with displaying human remains alongside objects and states that these remains represent ancestors, victims of tragedies, or exploited groups, and public exhibition extends that exploitation.
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City has a storied history spanning over a century. Founded in 1869, the museum aimed to advance scientific knowledge and educate the public about the natural world. Its iconic Central Park West location, designed by architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, opened its doors in 1877. The AMNH’s exhibits cover diverse subjects, from anthropology to astronomy, and it houses an extensive collection of artifacts and specimens. Over the years, it has played a significant role in scientific research and public education, offering visitors an opportunity to explore the wonders of the natural world and the cosmos.
