SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET

American Museum of Natural History Overhauls Collection of 12,000 Human Remains

“Many researchers in the 19th and 20th centuries used such collections to advance deeply flawed scientific agendas rooted in white supremacy,” the president of the museum said.

The American Museum of Natural History in New York has announced that they are overhauling their collection of 12,000 human remains because of their past collecting practices that included stealing the bodies of Indigenous and enslaved people from their graves. All human remains currently on display will be removed and examined to determine their origins, the New York Times reported. The collection at The American Museum of Natural History is unique because the human remains are far more recent than other human remains collections, dating back to as recently as the 1940s. “Many researchers in the 19th and 20th centuries then used such collections to advance deeply flawed scientific agendas rooted in white supremacy—namely the identification of physical differences that could reinforce models of racial hierarchy,” Sean M. Decatur, the president of the museum said.