Native Americans
Racism, 'Morbid Curiosity' Drove US Museums to Collect Indigenous Remains
In December 1900, John Wesley Powell received “the most unusual Christmas present of any person in the United States, if not in the world,” reported the Chicago Tribune.
The gift for this first director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of Ethnology was a sealskin sack containing the mummified remains of an Alaska Native.
The sender was a government employee hired to hunt Indian “relics,” who said the remains had been difficult to acquire because “to come into the possession of a dead Indian is a great crime among the Indians.”
The report concluded that it was the only “Indian relic" of this kind at the Smithsonian and it was “beyond money value.”
As it turned out, it was not the museum’s only Alaskan mummy. In 1865, even before the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia, Smithsonian naturalist William H. Dall was hired to accompany an expedition to study the potential for a telegraph route through Siberia to Europe. In his spare time, he looted graves in the Yukon and caves on several Aleutian Islands.
After the U.S. sealed the deal with Russia, the San Francisco-based Alaska Commercial Company won exclusive trading rights and established more than 90 trading posts in Alaska to meet the U.S. demand for ivory and furs.
It also instructed agents “to collect and preserve objects of interest in ethnology and natural history” and forward them to the Smithsonian. Ernest Henig looted 12 preserved bodies and a skull from a cave in the Aleutians in 1874. He donated two to California’s Academy of Science and sent the remainder to the Smithsonian.
More than 30 years after the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act meant to return those remains, a ProPublica investigation last year estimated that more than 110,000 Native American, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native ancestors remain in public collections across the U.S.
It is not known how many Indigenous remains are closeted in private or overseas collections.
“Museums collected massive numbers, perhaps even millions,” said anthropologist John Stephen “Chip” Colwell, who previously served as curator of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. “Out of the 100 remains we [at the Denver museum] returned, I think only about five or seven individuals were actually even studied.”
So, what sparked this 19th-century frenzy for collecting human remains?
Reconciling science, religion
From the moment they first encountered Indigenous Americans, European thinkers struggled to understand who they were, where they came from, and whether they could be “civilized.”
The Christian bible taught them that all humans descended from Adam and that God created Adam in his own image. So why, Europeans wondered, did Native Americans, Africans and Asians look different?
Some Europeans theorized that all humans were created white, but dietary or environmental differences caused some of them to turn “brown, yellow, red or black.”
Other Europeans refused to accept that they shared a common ancestor with people of color and theorized that God created the races separately before he created Adam.
The birth of scientific racism
Presumptions that compulsory education and Christianization would force Native Americans to abandon their traditional cultures and become “civilized” into mainstream European-American culture proved untrue. So 19th-century scientists turned to advancements in medicine to “prove” the inferiority of Indigenous peoples.
“That’s when you see scientists like Samuel Morton, who invented a pseudoscience trying to place peoples within these social hierarchies based on their biology, and they needed bones to solidify those racial hierarchies,” said Colwell, who is editor-in-chief of the online magazine SAPIENS and author of “Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America's Culture.”
Morton was a Philadelphia physician who collected hundreds of human skulls of all races, mostly Native American, that were forwarded to him by physicians on the frontier. In his 1839 book "Crania Americana," Morton classified human races based on skull measurements. Morton's conclusions were used to support racist ideologies about the inferiority of non-white humans.
“They are not only averse to the restraints of education, but for the most part incapable of a continued process of reasoning on abstract subjects,” he wrote of Native Americans. “The structure of [the Native] mind appears to be different from that of the white man, nor can the two harmonise in their social relations except on the most limited scale.”
Despite Morton’s legacy as an early figure in scientific racism — ideologies that generate pseudo-scientific racist beliefs — his work earned him a reputation at the time as “a jewel of American science” and influenced the field of anthropology and public policy for decades.
In 1868, for example, the U.S. Surgeon General turned his attention away from the Civil War to the so-called “Indian wars” and instructed field surgeons to collect Native American skulls and weapons and send them to the Army Medical Museum in Washington “to aid in the progress of anthropological science.”
“For museums, especially the early years of collecting, it was a form of trophy keeping, a competition between museums,” Colwell told VOA. “And some of it was a competition between national governments to accumulate big collections to demonstrate their global and imperial aspirations.”
All the rest, he said, were fragments of morbid curiosity.
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Native American tribe closer to acquiring more land in Arizona after decades of delay
Federal officials have joined with the state of Arizona to begin fulfilling a settlement agreement that was reached with the Hopi Tribe nearly three decades ago, marking what tribal officials described as a historic day.
Government attorneys filed condemnation documents on Friday to transfer dozens of square kilometers of state land into trust for the Hopi. The tribe will compensate the state nearly $4 million for more than 80 square kilometers of land near Winslow.
It could mark the first of more transfers of land into trust to help eliminate the checkerboard of ownership that characterizes much of the lands used by the tribe for ranching in northeastern Arizona.
A long time coming
Friday's filing was born out of the 1996 passage of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act, which ratified an agreement between the Hopi and federal government that set conditions for taking land into trust for the tribe.
The wrangling over land in northeastern Arizona has been bitter, pitting the Hopi and the Navajo Nation against one another for generations. The federal government failed in its attempt to have the tribes share land and after years of escalating conflict, Congress in 1974 divided the area and ordered tribal members to leave each other's reservations.
The resulting borders meant the Navajo Nation — the country's largest reservation at close to 70,000 square kilometers — surrounded the nearly 6,500-square-kilometer Hopi reservation.
Since the 1996 settlement, the Hopi Tribe has purchased private land and sought to take neighboring state lands into trust in hopes of consolidating property for the tribe's benefit.
A historic day
There have been many roadblocks along the way, including in 2018 when the tribe sought the support of local governments in northern Arizona to back a proposed transfer for land south of the busy Interstate 40 corridor. Those efforts were stymied by the inclusion of national forest tracts in the Flagstaff area.
Hopi Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma said in a statement Friday that he was grateful for everyone who worked to make the condemnation filing a reality and that the timing for this historic moment was fitting.
"Within Hopi, it is our time of the soyal'ang ceremony — the start of the New Year and the revitalization of life," he said.
Gov. Katie Hobbs, who first visited the Hopi reservation in 2023, acknowledged that the tribe has been fighting for its rights for decades and that politicians of the past had refused to hear the voices of tribal communities.
"Every Arizonan should have an opportunity to thrive and a space to call home, and this agreement takes us one step closer to making those Arizona values a reality," she said Friday.
More transfers and economic opportunities
In November, the Navajo Nation signed a warranty deed to take into trust a parcel of land near Flagstaff as part of the federal government's outstanding obligations to support members of that tribe who were forcibly relocated as a result of the Navajo-Hopi dispute.
Navajo leaders are considering building a casino on the newly acquired land, saying such a project would provide significant economic benefits.
For the Hopi, bringing more land into trust also holds the promise of more economic opportunities. The state lands near Winslow that are part of the condemnation filing are interspersed with Hopi-owned lands and have long been leased to the tribe for ranching and agricultural purposes, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Federal officials said Friday's filing is the first of an anticipated series of condemnation actions that ultimately would result in the transfer of more than 1440 square kilometers of state land into trust for the Hopi Tribe.
Media report: More than 3,100 Native American children died in US boarding schools
At least 3,104 Native American children died in boarding schools in the United States, taken from their families to be forcibly assimilated, The Washington Post reported on Sunday, with its estimate three times higher than that of the American government.
In these establishments, some of which were religious and which existed from the beginning of the 19th century to the 1970s, many children suffered physical, psychological or sexual violence, according to a recent government report which estimated that at least 973 students died there.
In late October, U.S. President Joe Biden apologized to Native American peoples, calling the atrocities "a sin that stains our souls."
According to The Washington Post, which conducted a year-long investigation, 3,104 students lost their lives in these schools between 1828 and 1970, in what the newspaper describes as "a dark chapter in American history that has long been ignored and largely covered up."
And the toll would actually be much higher according to historians, adds the newspaper.
The Washington Post says it has "determined that more than 800 of these students were buried in or near cemeteries at the schools where they attended, underscoring that, as in many cases, the children's bodies were never returned to their families or tribes."
According to documents seen by the daily, "The causes of death included infectious diseases, malnutrition and accidents."
Dozens of Native American students have died under suspicious circumstances, the article continues, "and in some cases, documents show indications of abuse or mistreatment that likely led to the children's deaths."
The boarding schools "were not schools" but "prison camps, work camps," Judi gaiashkibos, director of the Nebraska Commission on Native Americans and whose relatives were sent there, told the newspaper.
The Joe Biden administration has implemented a series of measures to support Native American nations and improve relations with the federal state.
In the United States, reservations now administered by Native Americans are predominantly poor, with high suicide and overdose rates.
In neighboring Canada, where the same practice of residential schools for young indigenous people existed, the country has also opened its eyes in recent years to this dark page of history.
Native American news roundup December 8-14, 2024
Tribal Nations Summit stresses federal responsibilities
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris showcased historic investments in Indian Country with speeches and a 96-page progress report at this week's White House Tribal Nations Summit.
As VOA reported, Biden announced a new national monument on the site of the Carlisle Indian boarding school in Pennsylvania, which served as the model for hundreds of residential schools that forced children to abandon their traditions and languages.
Another move announced at the summit is a 10-Year National Plan on Native Language Revitalization to invest $16.7 billion to protect and restore Native languages in all 50 states. Today, fewer than 200 Indigenous languages are still spoken, mainly by elders, and experts warn that if no action is taken, only 20 will remain by 2050. The plan will establish a new Office of Native Language Revitalization to coordinate efforts and manage funding.
The administration announced new guidance for federal employees on treaty and tribal consultation obligations, as well as strategies for addressing the chronic underfunding of tribal programs.
It also released further guidance on federal support for tribes facing natural disasters, public health emergencies, and climate-induced relocation challenges.
Biden honored with 'Lightning and Thunder'
At the summit, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland gifted President Biden a traditional wool blanket made by Eighth Generation, a Seattle-based company owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe.
The blanket was designed by artist and metalsmith Pat Pruitt, who, like Haaland, is a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. Pruitt named the design "Lightning and Thunder."
"I had no idea my blanket had been selected until friends sent me photos of the event," Pruitt said. "It is both humbling and meaningful to witness this recognition. As a former tribal leader, I deeply understand the significance of serving the people, as well as the hard work and sacrifices that come with it."
In many Native traditions, gifting a blanket is a gesture of respect for leadership and milestone achievements.
Texas high court to decide religious freedom case
The Texas Supreme Court was set to rule this week on whether the city of San Antonio's temporary closure of a park and plans to remove trees violate religious freedom.
For several years, the city of San Antonio has been fighting cormorants, large migratory birds that nest in the city's Breckenridge Park and cause damage to vegetation. City contractors have used chemical sprays, heavy pruning and aerial explosives to disrupt bird rookeries, but these methods failed.
Matilde Torres and Gary Perez, members of the Lipan Apache Native American Church, sued the city last summer, arguing the site is spiritually significant to their culture as it connects to their creation story. They say city plans would violate religious freedoms guaranteed by the Texas constitution.
The Lipan Apache is not a federally recognized tribe but was recognized by Texas in 2019.
The case made its way to the top court in Texas, which was expected to rule on Monday. At the time of this writing, a decision was still pending.
Wisconsin tribe agrees to end predatory lending in Minnesota
The Wisconsin-based Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (LDF) has agreed to stop short-term, high-interest loan operations in Minnesota and to forgive over $1 million in outstanding loans. LDF had been providing short-term loans since 2012, including through a dozen online loan operations.
A ProPublica investigation this year revealed that the tribe charged interest rates as high as 800%, violating Minnesota's usury laws. The investigation says many of those loans ended up devastating borrowers across the country.
"I borrowed $1100 and agreed to pay $272 bi-weekly, with the thought that I would have that paid off in under 4 months," one borrower complained. "To my shock, I logged on to my account shortly after receiving the funds and my balance due is over $4000!"
Minnesota sued the tribe's lenders, which led to this settlement stopping that lending and canceling over $1 million in outstanding loans.
"My approach to this case and other tribal lending is to stop violations and harm while also preserving and respecting the tribes' sovereign status," stated Attorney General Ellison. "I am grateful for the defendants' cooperation in this investigation and agreement to cease further lending and collection activity in Minnesota."
Biden designates national monument at site of Carlisle Indian school
President Joe Biden has created a new national monument on the grounds of a former Indian boarding school in Pennsylvania, which served as the blueprint for hundreds of similar institutions across the United States.
“I want everyone to know,” Biden said. “I don't want people forgetting, 10, 20, 30, 50 years from now.”
Indian children from 140 tribes were taken from their families, tribes and homelands and forced to spend years at the school in the borough of Carlisle, he noted.
“It was wrong, and by making the Carlisle Indian School a national monument, we make clear that [that's] what great nations do. We don't erase history. We acknowledge it. We learn from and we remember, so we never repeat it again.”
Biden told the 2024 Tribal Nations Summit in Washington Monday that the monument will encompass 10 hectares (24.5 acres) inside what is today the Carlisle Army Barracks, including historic buildings and structures that once made up the school’s campus. These will include the brick and marble gateposts at the school’s entrance, which Carlisle students built by hand in 1910.
The U.S. Army will maintain operational control over the site, which is now home to the U.S. Army War College. The Army will collaborate with the National Park Service to oversee the planning and management of the new national monument, consulting with federally recognized tribes to ensure that the monument accurately reflects historic and contemporary impacts of the boarding school system on tribal members and communities.
“This addition to the national park system that recognizes the troubled history of U.S. and Tribal relations is among the giant steps taken in recent years to honor Tribal sovereignty and recognize the ongoing needs of Native communities, repair past damage and make progress toward healing,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams, a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Northeast Oregon.
The announcement comes just six weeks after Biden’s visit to the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. There, he gave a long-awaited apology to Native Americans for the boarding school era, calling it “one the most consequential things I've ever had an opportunity to do in my whole career as president of the United States.”
Earlier Monday, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland opened the summit with a speech focusing on the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative she launched in May 2021.
The initiative resulted in a two-volume report that documented the history of the school system, accounting for 417 known schools and confirming more than 900 child deaths.
The initiative also included The Road to Healing, in which Haaland and Assistant Interior Secretary Bryan Newland traveled to 12 Native communities, giving survivors and their descendants an opportunity to share their boarding school experiences.
“So many of you spoke bravely and forthright[ly] … about the horrors you endured or the trauma that was passed down over generations. Those stories must continue to be told,” Haaland told the summit leaders.
As part of the initiative, the Interior Department engaged the National Native Boarding School Healing Coalition to conduct video interviews with boarding school survivors to create a permanent oral history collection.
Haaland announced that the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will partner to preserve their accounts for the public.
- By Anita Powell
Biden memorializes painful past of Native Americans
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday presided over his final White House Tribal Nations Summit by reaching into the nation’s dark past and establishing a national monument to honor the suffering of thousands of Native children and their families in federal boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.