Penn Museum reburies the bones of 19 Black Philadelphians, causing a dispute with community members
Penn Museum reburies the bones of 19 Black Philadelphians, causing a dispute with community members
For decades, the University of Pennsylvania has held hundreds of skulls that once were used to promote white supremacy through racist scientific research.
As part of a growing effort among museums to reevaluate the curation of human remains, the Ivy League school laid some of the remains to rest last week, specifically those identified as belonging to 19 Black Philadelphians. Officials plan to hold a memorial service for them on Saturday.
The university says it is trying to begin rectifying past wrongs. But some community members feel excluded from the process, illustrating the challenges that institutions face in addressing institutional racism.
“Repatriation should be part of what the museum does, and we should embrace it,” said Christopher Woods, the museum’s director.
The university houses more than 1,000 human remains from all over the world, and Woods said repatriating those identified as from the local community felt like the best place to start.
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