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cw: human remains, slavery
great that the NYT published this piece today. BUT of course P*nn left some stuff out that is important to mention regarding the collection and the university's continued possession of enslaved people's remains. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/us/Penn-museum-slavery-skulls-Morton-cranial.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
great that the NYT published this piece today. BUT of course P*nn left some stuff out that is important to mention regarding the collection and the university's continued possession of enslaved people's remains. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/us/Penn-museum-slavery-skulls-Morton-cranial.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
The Morton Collection contains approx 1225 skulls ("approximately" bc some have gone missing since they were collected in the 19th c). Of those, 55 definitely belonged to enslaved people, with 53 coming to Morton from Cuba, specifically the Vedado Plantation near Havana.
Of the 53 from Havana, two went missing, likely in the 1960s when the collection came to the museum. What the Museum left OUT of the NYT article is that we know of some specifics of 2 enslaved Americans in the collection, a man who was executed in VA and a woman from SC
Another thing that was left out: the enslaved people from Cuba, if we believe Morton's notes were born in Africa. They survived the Middle Passage, and died likely in a cholera epidemic in 1832. The trauma of slavery and the middle passage is literally evident in their bones.
Often, when the Museum/P*nn talks about the collection, they leave out details that belie just how horrifying it is that the museum still holds these people, unfree in both life and death. We must center their humanity in these discussions.
These skulls were collected with violence and white supremacy in mind, and the books morton produced were literally read by confederate leaders. in 2016 Penn said that there were "no traces of slavery in Penn's DNA." This collection proves that Penn is in fact in slavery's DNA.
The persistence of this collection is sickening. P*nn needs to do more than move these sacred remains out of a classroom used for *gen-ed* courses. We need repatriation and reparations.
For more info, check out this paper, or Paul Mitchell's work, or Abdul Aliy Muhammad's op-eds on the subject, in addition to Gabriela's article last month. http://pennandslaveryproject.org/files/original/6cb25ad85c2635d6620ffd04abeadb33.pdf https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/university-of-pennsylvania-slavery-reparations-debate-20190712.html
Here is Abdul-Aliy's petition. Please sign :) http://chng.it/r2R7x7WCst
Also it's important to remember that this collection contains the remains of indigenous people from all over the WORLD. They deserve justice too. In some cases, tribes from outside the US have asked for their ancestors back, and the museum has basically just said "no"
the museum has not only had these people's remains on display in a classroom, the racial labels that Morton affixed to each person's skull remain intact. How can you say "racism has no place" at a museum predicated on colonialism? you keep racist labels on stolen bones.
