Smithsonian Without Ethics or Morality

Lakota Village, 1891, Wounded Knee, South Dakota

Smithsonian Without Ethics or Morality

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

May 8, 2010

Since the creation of the National Museum of the American Indian, there has been an increased effort to conceal the true history of the Smithsonian Institution, especially in regard to harboring human remains and the racist cranium studies of American Indians.

The National Museum of the American Indian is the sixteenth museum of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian did not respond to my last request for information, regarding the number of American Indian remains, and American Indian skulls, that currently remain at the Smithsonian.

New database reveals where Native American human remains are being held

A depiction of one scene at Sand Creek by witness Howling Wolf Cheyenne

Give us our people back

Native American human remains are being held by museums and universities. Native Americans want to bring their ancestors home.

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

A new database reveals which museums and universities have human remains of Native Americans. It shows which places have made those available for return, and which ones have not.

The database by ProPublica shows those not returning remains to the Tohono O'odham Nation including the University of Arizona Museum and Arizona State Museum. The places that have not made remains available to Oglala Lakota in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, include Harvard University and Milwaukee Public Museum

“We never ceded or relinquished our dead. They were stolen,” James Riding In, Pawnee and longtime professor at Arizona State University professor, said of the unreturned remains.