Across the country, the remains of tens of thousands of human beings are held by museums and institutions. Scientists say they’ve helped lay the foundations of forensic science and unlocked the secrets of humanity’s shared past.
But these bones were also collected before informed consent was the gold standard for ethical study. Nineteenth and 20th-century physicians and anthropologists took unclaimed bodies from poorhouses and hospitals, robbed graves, and looted Indigenous bones from sacred sites.
Now, under pressure from activists and an evolving scientific community, these institutions are rethinking what to do with their unethically collected human remains.
Outside/In producer Felix Poon has informally gained a reputation as the podcast’s “death beat” correspondent. He’s visited a human decomposition facility (aka, “body farm”), reported on the growing trend of “green burial,” and explored the use of psychedelic mushrooms to help terminal cancer patients confront death.
In this three-episode series from Outside/In, Felix takes us to Philadelphia, where the prestigious Penn Museum has promised to “respectfully repatriate” hundreds of skulls collected by 19th century physician Samuel George Morton, who used them to pursue pseudo-scientific theories of white supremacy. Those efforts have been met with support by some, and anger and distrust by others.
Along the way, Felix explores the long legacy of scientific racism, lingering questions over the 1985 MOVE bombing, and evolving ethics in the field of biological anthropology.
Can the institutions that have long benefited from these remains be trusted to give them up? And if so, who decides what happens next?
Episode 1: What's Past is Prologue
A 1,500 year old skeleton is diagnosed with tuberculosis. A visit to a modern-day bone library. A fight over the future of ethical science.
Featuring Olga Spekker, Nicole Dungca, Molly Zuckerman, and Aja Lans.
Read a full transcript here.
ADDITIONAL READING
The Smithsonian’s ‘Bone Doctor’ scavenged thousands of body parts (Washington Post)
Medical, scientific racism revealed in century-old plaque from Black man’s teeth (Science)
America’s Biggest Museums Fail to Return Native American Human Remains (ProPublica)
Read about Maria Pearson, the “Rosa Parks of NAGPRA” and how she sparked a movement. (Library of Congress Blogs)
Read Olga Spekker’s paper on SPF15: “The first probable case with tuberculous meningitis from the Hun period of the Carpathian Basin.”
Listen to our episode about so-called body farms: “Life and Death at a Human Decomposition Facility.”
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon, with help from Taylor Quimby
Mixed by Felix Poon and Taylor Quimby
Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Nate Hegyi, Rebecca Lavoie, Katie Colaneri, Jason Moon, Daniela Allee, Justine Paradis, Marina Henke, and Kate Dario.
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, and 369
The theme music for the What Remains mini-series is by Lennon Hutton
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
If you’ve got a question for the Outside/Inbox hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to dive down. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.
