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.
58 Articles
58 Articles
New Orleans Honors African Americans Exploited In Racist Research
After more than a century away, 19 African American souls have finally returned home.This weekend, New Orleans held a powerful tribute—part solemn memorial, part joyful jazz funeral—for the remains of 19 people. Their skulls had been shipped to Germany in the 1800s for racist “scientific” research. Now, they’ve been laid to rest at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial, their dignity finally honored.“We know them because of the horrific way their bodie…
Skulls of Black New Orleanians, denied burial, were sent to Germany for research. They'll now be laid to rest
More than a century ago, the skulls of 19 African Americans who lived and died in New Orleans were collected and sent to Germany for controversial and racially-biased research. Now, their remains will finally be laid to rest in the city.
Stolen, Returned, Remembered: 19 Black Americans Reburied in New Orleans
By Stacy M. Brown Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent Individuals Finally Received Long-Overdue Recognition in Full New Orleanian Spirit with Jazz Band, Second Line, Performed by Black Men of Labor, and Kumbuka Dancers/ Malachi Casimire, Dillard University. More than 150 years after their crania were taken from New Orleans and shipped to Germany for racist scientific experiments, 19 Black Americans were finally laid to rest. In a movin…
Stolen Black Remains Return Home After 150 Years in European Vault
Underneath oak trees and Spanish moss from Texas to the Carolina coasts, the remains of Black Americans lay in unmarked graves across roadside cemeteries and backyards. While some graves now remain hidden beneath highways and shopping malls, others have been stripped of their dignity in an even more insidious way. Nowhere is this more painfully clear than in New Orleans, where the remains of 19 Black men and women, once spirited away across the …
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