Determined and persistent struggle by Indigenous peoples for decades has meant that U.S. museums, universities and federal agencies are finally returning the human remains of the ancestors of many Indigenous tribes. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a federal agency established in the 1930s, is the largest holder of such remains, more than 14,000 ancestors. Sacred burial grounds were inhumanely dug up and bones removed for dam construction in the region — with no consideration to the Indigenous peoples involved and their spiritual beliefs. The crimes are such that U.S. Senators are forced to admit that “For too long, Native ancestral remains and cultural items have been unconscionably denied their journey home by institutions, desecrated by scientific study, publicly displayed as specimens, left to collect dust on a shelf, or simply thrown in a box and forgotten in a museum storeroom.” Since 2011, TVA returned a total of 9,277 human remains and 119,630 associated funerary objects and are now returning the last 4,871 ancestors.
The University of California-Berkeley, Harvard University, and Indiana University also hold Indigenous ancestors. Cornell University, which refused for nearly 60 years to return just three ancestors, recently did so. Dean Lyons, an Oneida Nation Turtle Clan member, spoke to his ancestors during a transfer ceremony at Cornell. “You will be back in Mother Earth. You will hear the waters again,” Lyons said. “You will hear the animals again. You will hear the thunders again. You will remain here undisturbed amongst your relations.”
In 1990 Indigenous demands secured a law — the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) — requiring the return of the ancestors. Instead, the holders refuse, under the guise that they cannot identify which tribe they belong to. The Indigenous peoples have made clear that they can best make these determinations and all ancestors and objects must immediately be returned.
Leave a Reply