New Orleans holds burial of repatriated African Americans whose skulls were used in racist research
New Orleans – New Orleans celebrated the return and burial of the remains of 19 African people whose skulls were sent to Germany for racist search practices in the nineteenth century.
On Saturday, multi -debt memorial service, including the Jazz funeral, is one of the most distinguished traditions in the city, for the humanity of those who return home to the final resting place in the Katrina Hurricane.
“It is paradoxes to know that these 19 because of the 19 thing because of the horrific thing that happened to them after their death, and Dennis their bodies,” said Monic Gilory, President of Dellard University, a college of black black liberal arts, which led to the receipt of the remains on behalf of the city. “This is in fact an opportunity for us to recognize and commemorate the humanity of all these individuals who have been denied, as you know, such a respectable and final burial.”
It is believed that all the 19 people have passed away from the natural causes between 1871 and 1872 in the Charitable Hospital, which served people of all races and classes in New Orleans during the peak of persecution white excellence in the nineteenth century. The hospital was closed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The remains sat in 19 wooden boxes in the university chapel during Saturday’s service that also included music from Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective.
New Orleans doctor gave the skulls of the 19 -year -old researcher who participates in the studies of PhRNOLOGICAL – the belief that a person’s skull can determine the innate racist characteristics.
“All kinds of experiments have been conducted on black bodies that live and die,” said Eva Bahama, the historian who led the efforts of Dellard to restore the remains of individuals. “People who have no agency themselves.”
In 2023, Leipzig University in Germany continued to New Orleans to find a way to restore remains, Gilory said. Leipzig University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“It is evidence of our morals here in New Orleans and in Leipzig with the professors who wanted to do something to restore the dignity of these people.”
Dellard University researchers say more remains to be done, including an attempt to track potential grandchildren. They believe that some people may have recently been released from slavery.
“These were truly poor people, poor at the end of the nineteenth century, but they … they have names, they had titles, and they walked in the streets of the city we love,” Gilory said. “We all deserve to recognize our humanity and the value of our lives.”
