US EditionNew Orleans Holds Burial of Repatriated African Americans Whose Skulls Were Used in Racist Research
- On May 31, 2025, New Orleans held a jazz funeral and memorial service for 19 African American individuals whose skulls were repatriated from Germany after being taken in the 19th century for racist research.
- The repatriation followed outreach by the University of Leipzig in 2023 to return remains originally sent by a New Orleans doctor to a German phrenologist during a period of racial pseudoscience and colonialism.
- Dillard University, a historically Black college, led efforts to receive the remains, which were interred at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial following a multifaith service featuring local cultural performances and a traditional New Orleans jazz funeral procession.
- Dillard’s president Monique Guillory called the event a restoration of dignity, affirming 'These people mattered,' while historian Eva Baham described the collaboration as an act of healing and historical accountability.
- The burial acknowledges the humanity of those forcibly studied and suggests ongoing research to trace descendants and confront the injustices of racial pseudoscience prevalent during the late 1800s.
36 Articles
36 Articles
Skulls once subject to racist study in Germany are laid to rest in New Orleans
Marie Louise was a lifelong New Orleanian who died of malnutrition. Hiram Malone came to Louisiana from Alabama, hospitalized at 21 with a fatal case of pneumonia. Samuel Prince was a 40-year-old cook, who succumbed to tuberculosis.They were among 19 Black patients who died at one New Orleans hospital in the 1870s, and whose heads were removed by a doctor to be sent to Germany. There, the crania were studied as “specimens” in what was then a pro…
The remains of 19 African Americans whose skulls were sent to Germany for racist research practices in the 19th century were buried in New Orleans today.
New Orleans holds burial of repatriated African Americans whose skulls were used in racist research
New Orleans celebrated the return and burial of the remains of 19 African American people whose skulls had been sent to Germany for racist research practices in the 19th century.
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