Latest news with #Baham
a day ago
- Health
Remains of 19 Black Americans returned to New Orleans nearly 150 years later
The remains of 19 Black Americans whose skulls were taken to Leipzig, Germany, in the 1880s to perform "racial pseudoscience" experiments, were brought to New Orleans to be properly memorialized, a repatriation committee said Thursday. Dillard University, the City of New Orleans and University Medical Center will hold a New Orleans-style jazz funeral on Saturday morning for the 13 men, four women and two unidentified people, according to Dr. Monique Guillory, the president of the historically Black Louisiana university. "They were people with names," Guillory said at a press conference on Thursday. "They were people with stories and histories. Some of them had families -- mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, human beings -- not specimens, not numbers." Dr. Eva Baham, chair of Dillard University's Cultural Repatriation Committee, said during the press conference that the University of Leipzig reached out to the City of New Orleans in 2023 and offered to repatriate the remains. The Cultural Repatriation Committee formed in 2024 and looked through public records to identify exactly who the people were and establish a genealogy, according to Baham. The group has not been able to identify any descendants at this point, she noted. Baham's team located the people's death records in the archives of Charity Hospital. The medical institution served people of all races from 1736 until it was shuttered due to severe damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, according to a statement from Dillard University. University Medical Center New Orleans opened in its place in 2015 and was the major funder of the project, Baham said. Of the 19 people, 17 of them died in December 1871 and two died in January 1872, their ages ranging from 15 to 70 years old, according Baham. Many of them were not born in Louisiana but came from states like Kentucky and Tennessee. The committee discovered that 10 of the 19 people were in New Orleans for less than six years, Baham noted. "We have people who were here in New Orleans from one hour in 1871, one day, a week, two months," Baham said at the news conference. "I just want to remind you that the Civil War had ended in 1865, so we have 10 of these individuals who had arrived here after the American Civil War." The names of the 17 people that the committee was able to identify include Adam Grant, 50; Isaak Bell, 70; Hiram Smith, 23; William Pierson, 43; Henry Williams, 55; John Brown, 48; Hiram Malone, 21; William Roberts, 23; Alice Brown, 15; Prescilla Hatchet, 19; Marie Louise, 55; Mahala [no listed last name], 70; Samuel Prince, 40; John Tolman, 23; Henry Allen, 17; Moses Willis, 23; and Henry Anderson, 23. "We can't rewrite history," Charlotte Parent, vice president of business development at University Medical Center, said at the press conference. "The times were what the times were at the time, but we can always look back and figure out ways that we can embrace and make things as right as we can, and this is one of those opportunities for us to do that."
USA Today
2 days ago
- Science
- USA Today
Skulls of 19 Black people returned to New Orleans after 150 years
Skulls of 19 Black people returned to New Orleans after 150 years Dillard University will hold a ceremony to honor 19 Black people whose remains were wrongfully taken from Louisiana to Germany in the late 1800s for racist scientific research. The university received the individuals' skulls last week from the University of Leipzig, where they had been housed for more than 150 years. On May 31, each of the 19 people – some of whom were born in New Orleans or had only been in the city for days or weeks – will be honored in a historic memorial and jazz funeral. Each of the individuals had died in New Orleans' Charity Hospital in the early 1870s. Their skulls were removed and brought to Leipzig for research centered on a pseudo-science that sought to prove the racial superiority of white people by analyzing skulls. Such "research" was practiced in the U.S. and used in the Antebellum South to justify slavery. Monique Guillory, the president of Dillard University, one of two historically Black colleges and universities in Louisiana, said at a news conference that the memorial service will be about "confronting a dark chapter in medical and scientific history, and choosing instead a path of justice, honor and remembrance." The individuals were "stripped of their dignity" and subjected to a "colonial scientific practice rooted in racism and exploitation," Guillory said. "They were people with names. They were people with stories and histories," she added. "Some of them had families – mothers, fathers, daughters, sons. They were human beings, not specimens, not numbers." How did Dillard University get the remains back? The process to bring home the remains began about two years ago and involved Dillard, the Louisiana Department of Justice, the city of New Orleans, the University of Leipzig and other community organizations. Dillard University took up the charge and formed a Cultural Repatriation Committee, which focused on planning a honorary service and researching the lives of the individuals in an attempt to locate their descendants, said Eva Baham, a retired Dillard professor who led the committee. With a list of names provided by the city of Leipzig, Baham said she and and a small working group began scouring historical records. Their biggest break came when they searched through archives at the public library and discovered most of their names in the records of New Orleans' Charity Hospital. The group found that the individuals had died between December 1871 and January 1872, Baham said at a news conference. The records also provided vital information about their background, including where they were born and how long they had been in New Orleans. "We have people who were here in New Orleans from one hour in 1871, one day, a week, two months," she said. "Ten of the 19 individuals were in New Orleans less than six years." Baham also noted that most of them arrived in New Orleans after the Civil War, which ended in 1865. Only two were lifelong New Orleans residents, making it difficult for the group to find descendants. "We were not able, at this time, to connect them solidly to certain places, addresses," she said. "Searching for the descendants is not impossible but highly improbable within a certain amount of time." 'Now they are home' As they researched the history of the 19 individuals, the committee forged ahead and planned a memorial service and jazz funeral – a traditional New Orleans procession that features a brass band. "We are not talking about them as if they're skeletal remains," Baham said. "We want to honor them by calling them the individuals that they are." The university listed their names as Adam Grant, Isaak Bell, Hiram Smith, William Pierson, Henry Williams, John Brown, Hiram Malone, William Roberts, Alice Brown, Prescilla Hatchet, Marie Louise, Mahala, Samuel Prince, John Tolman, Henry Allen, Moses Willis and Henry Anderson. Two of them have not been identified. Last week, Dillard University received the remains from Leipzig and held a brief, solemn ceremony at a local funeral home where the committee members read aloud what was known about each of the 19 people – where they were born, where they have lived and when they arrived in New Orleans. Along with last week's ceremony, the upcoming funeral will be a "homecoming and a final home going" in typical New Orleans fashion, Guillory said. "These people mattered," she said. "They belonged here, and now they are home."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
19 Black Americans' skulls return to New Orleans after 150 years for memorial service
More than 150 years after their heads were severed from their bodies and shipped to Germany for 'research,' the craniums of 19 Black people, which were recently returned, will be memorialized Saturday during a sacred ceremony in New Orleans. Dillard University President Monique Guillory said during a news conference Wednesday that the memorial will be 'about confronting a dark chapter in medical and scientific history while choosing a path of justice, honor and remembrance.' Those who will be honored had died in the city's Charity Hospital in 1872. Their heads were severed and shipped to Leipzig University in Germany to be studied — a common practice at the time, as researchers sought to confirm their unfounded theory that Black people's brains were smaller than those of other races, therefore making them inferior. 'They were stripped of their dignity,' Guillory said, over 'a practice rooted in racism and exploitation. They were people with names. They were people with stories and histories. Some of them had families, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, human beings.' They were not specimens, she continued, 'not numbers.' The heads were returned to New Orleans about a week ago following a two-year journey, according to Eva Baham, a retired Dillard professor. Representatives from Leipzig contacted the city in 2023 about their existence in Germany, where the university houses a skull collection dating back to the 1800s. The school is in the process of repatriating or sending back skulls to their original locations. That initial call set in motion the creation of the Cultural Repatriation Committee, led by Baham. 'We are not talking about them as if they are skeletal remains,' Baham said at the news conference. 'We want to honor them by calling them the individuals that they are.' Dillard, one of two historically Black universities in New Orleans, along with Xavier University of Louisiana, welcomed the opportunity to be part of 'this very sensitive acknowledgment of our people, that they are here,' Guillory told NBC News. A visitation will take place Saturday at Dillard's Lawless Memorial Chapel with a service. Laid to rest will be the remains of Adam Grant, Isaak Bell, Hiram Smith, William Pierson, Henry Williams, John Brown, Hiram Malone, William Roberts, Alice Brown, Prescilla Hatchet, Marie Louise, Mahala, Samuel Prince, John Tolman, Henry Allen, Moses Willis and Henry Anderson. The remains of two other people could not be identified. The committee tried in vain for two years to contact descendants of the victims, but had no success. They did learn some information, Baham said, and found their names listed in municipal death records almost in succession. 'In those records list what they died from, how long they had been in New Orleans,' she said. 'We have people who were here in New Orleans from one hour in 1871, one day, a week, two months. And that's all very important.' Guillory told NBC News that the service will be a New Orleans expression of respect. 'We will do so in the most sacred way that we know how in our beloved city, in a true New Orleans fashion, with a jazz funeral that shows the world that these people mattered,' she said. 'We have a very different relationship with death here, and a very different relationship with what we believe is the spirit and our ancestors. And now they are home. And so, this is particularly poignant for people in New Orleans.' When the opportunity arose, there were questions from people in the academic and local community, Guillory said, about why the parties involved would welcome their return. But the city, University Medical Center New Orleans, Dillard University and other entities did not blink. 'There's certain sensitivity to the material, to the macabre, somber nature of what we're talking about,' Guillory said. 'There was also a lot of uncertainty about whether we could actually bring them here. Should we bring them here? Who should be responsible for bringing them here? Why bring them back? And I think the committee itself had been very confident and convinced that this was the right thing to do.' The remains will be stored at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial. 'We want that day to be not only of remembrance, but of reckoning and renewal,' Guillory said, 'and may we never forget them.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- NBC News
19 Black Americans' skulls return to New Orleans after 150 years for memorial service
More than 150 years after their heads were severed from their bodies and shipped to Germany for 'research,' the craniums of 19 Black people, which were recently returned, will be memorialized Saturday during a sacred ceremony in New Orleans. Dillard University President Monique Guillory said during a news conference Wednesday that the memorial will be 'about confronting a dark chapter in medical and scientific history while choosing a path of justice, honor and remembrance.' Those who will be honored had died in the city's Charity Hospital in 1872. Their heads were severed and shipped to Leipzig University in Germany to be studied — a common practice at the time, as researchers sought to confirm their unfounded theory that Black people's brains were smaller than those of other races, therefore making them inferior. 'They were stripped of their dignity,' Guillory said, over 'a practice rooted in racism and exploitation. They were people with names. They were people with stories and histories. Some of them had families, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, human beings.' They were not specimens, she continued, 'not numbers.' The heads were returned to New Orleans about a week ago following a two-year journey, according to Eva Baham, a retired Dillard professor. Representatives from Leipzig contacted the city in 2023 about their existence in Germany, where the university houses a skull collection dating back to the 1800s. The school is in the process of repatriating or sending back skulls to their original locations. That initial call set in motion the creation of the Cultural Repatriation Committee, led by Baham. 'We are not talking about them as if they are skeletal remains,' Baham said at the news conference. 'We want to honor them by calling them the individuals that they are.' Dillard, one of two historically Black universities in New Orleans, along with Xavier University of Louisiana, welcomed the opportunity to be part of 'this very sensitive acknowledgment of our people, that they are here,' Guillory told NBC News. A visitation will take place Saturday at Dillard's Lawless Memorial Chapel with a service. Laid to rest will be the remains of Adam Grant, Isaak Bell, Hiram Smith, William Pierson, Henry Williams, John Brown, Hiram Malone, William Roberts, Alice Brown, Prescilla Hatchet, Marie Louise, Mahala, Samuel Prince, John Tolman, Henry Allen, Moses Willis and Henry Anderson. The remains of two other people could not be identified. The committee tried in vain for two years to contact descendants of the victims, but had no success. They did learn some information, Baham said, and found their names listed in municipal death records almost in succession. 'In those records list what they died from, how long they had been in New Orleans,' she said. 'We have people who were here in New Orleans from one hour in 1871, one day, a week, two months. And that's all very important.' Guillory told NBC News that the service will be a New Orleans expression of respect. 'We will do so in the most sacred way that we know how in our beloved city, in a true New Orleans fashion, with a jazz funeral that shows the world that these people mattered,' she said. 'We have a very different relationship with death here, and a very different relationship with what we believe is the spirit and our ancestors. And now they are home. And so, this is particularly poignant for people in New Orleans.' When the opportunity arose, there were questions from people in the academic and local community, Guillory said, about why the parties involved would welcome their return. But the city, University Medical Center New Orleans, Dillard University and other entities did not blink. 'There's certain sensitivity to the material, to the macabre, somber nature of what we're talking about,' Guillory said. 'There was also a lot of uncertainty about whether we could actually bring them here. Should we bring them here? Who should be responsible for bringing them here? Why bring them back? And I think the committee itself had been very confident and convinced that this was the right thing to do.' The remains will be stored at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial. 'We want that day to be not only of remembrance, but of reckoning and renewal,' Guillory said, 'and may we never forget them.'
Axios
3 days ago
- Health
- Axios
After being part of racist experimentation, 19 New Orleanians' remains return home
Remains from 19 people whose craniums were shipped to Germany for racist pseudoscientific experimentation in the 19th century have now come home to New Orleans. Why it matters: The Dillard University-based committee responsible for their return is hosting a public jazz funeral on Saturday as the remains are finally interred. What they're saying:"This is not simply about bones and artifacts. It is not only about injustices. This is about restoring and, in many ways for us here, celebrating our humanity," said Dillard University president Monique Guillory in a press conference Wednesday. "It is about confronting a dark chapter in medical and scientific history, and choosing instead a path of justice, honor and remembrance. And we will do so in the most sacred way we know how: in a true New Orleans fashion, with a jazz funeral that shows the world these people mattered. They belonged. They belonged here, and now they are home." Flashback: The 19 people died in New Orleans at Charity Hospital between Dec. 5, 1871, and January 1872, according to Dillard historian Eva Baham, who chaired the Repatriation Committee. They ranged in age from 17 to 70 and included both women and men of mixed descent, as well as two unknown people. By the 1880s, New Orleans doctor Henry D. Schmidt had sent their craniums to Emil Ludwig Schmidt of Leipzig, Germany. There, they were catalogued as "specimens" and used to further research into the now-discredited belief that a person's personality, intelligence and virtue could be determined by the differences in their skulls, Dillard University says. The location of the rest of the 19 individuals' bodies remains unknown. Two years ago, the University of Leipzig reached out to New Orleans city officials, hoping the known remains could be returned home. In the time since, a partnership between officials from Dillard, Xavier, LCMC and the city ultimately resulted in the 19 individuals' remains being returned to New Orleans about a week ago. When they did, they were brought to Rhodes Funeral Home for a brief private ceremony to recognize their return. The intrigue: The committee was unable to find descendants of the 19 people, Baham said, due in large part to how little information was catalogued about them before they died. They also had been in New Orleans for varying lengths of time — records show one person was here for only about an hour before dying, Baham said — with some coming from other states. In the end, Baham said, "we are serving as the families of these people." If you go: The jazz funeral on Saturday is open to the public, Baham said, so that New Orleanians can "be a part of bringing dignity to people from whom it was taken." A viewing begins at 9am Saturday at Lawless Memorial Chapel at Dillard University, with a service at 11am. What's next: The remains of the 19 people will be later privately interred at the Hurricane Katrina memorial on Canal Street. Who they were Zoom in: This is what is known about the 19 people whose remains have now been returned to New Orleans, according to research shared by Dillard: Moses Willis, 23, a Virginia native who died Dec. 5, 1871. Isaak (or Isaac) Bell, 70, a native of North Carolina, who died Dec. 5, 1871. Henry Anderson, 23, a Missouri native who died Dec. 10, 1871. Henry Williams, 55, a North Carolina native who died Dec. 14, 1871. Prescilla Hatchet, 19, a Virginia native who died Dec. 16, 1871. Alice Brown, 15, a Louisiana native who died Dec. 17, 1871. John Tolman, 23, a South Carolina native who died Dec. 17, 1871. Samuel Prince, 40, a Louisiana native who died Dec. 20, 1871. Hiram Smith, 22, a Virginia native who died Dec. 22, 1871. Marie Louise, 55, a Louisiana native who died Dec. 24, 1871. Hiram Malone, 21, a Tennessee native who died Dec. 24, 1871. Henry Allen, 17, a Kentucky native who died Dec. 26, 1871. Mahala, 70, a Virginia native who died Dec. 26, 1871. William Pierson, 43, a Louisiana native who died Dec. 27, 1871. John Brown, 48, a Louisiana native who died Dec. 27, 1871. Adam Grant, 50, a native of Tennessee who died Dec. 31, 1871. William Roberts, 23, a Georgia native who died Jan. 10, 1872.
