Smithsonian Apologizes for Racist Body Snatching

James Smithson, the Smithsonian benefactor

Probably the best thing Congress ever did was charter the Smithsonian Institution.  Better than the first human on the moon 0r almost anything else.  It takes more than a lifetime to behold all the historical artifacts and wonders the Smithsonian makes available to the world.  So I’m a big fan. We recently blogged about Henrietta Lacks and Johns’ Hopkins Hospital, another worthy institution with some racist baggage.  That same day the Washington Post ran a story about similar body body snatching practices at the Smithsonian.  The Smithsonian must have known it was coming.  And it certainly doesn’t equivocate in its apology published a few days ago in the Washington Post:

The Post’s recent coverage regarding the human remains still housed in our collections is certainly illustrative of the Smithsonian’s darkest history. This is our inheritance, and we accept the responsibility to address these wrongs to the fullest extent possible.

Anthropologist Ales Hrdlicka served as the head of the Smithsonian’s physical anthropology division from 1903 to 1941, when the majority of the human remains in our collections were obtained. During Hrdlicka’s four decades at the institution, he oversaw the acquisition of hundreds of human brains and thousands of other remains. The overwhelming majority of these remains were taken without the consent of the deceased or their family members, and Hrdlicka took particular interest in the remains of Indigenous people and people of color to undergird his search for scientific evidence of white superiority. 

It was abhorrent and dehumanizing work, and it was carried out under the Smithsonian’s name. As secretary of the Smithsonian, I condemn these past actions and apologize for the pain caused by Hrdlicka and others at the institution who acted unethically in the name of science, regardless of the era in which their actions occurred.

I recognize, too, that the Smithsonian is responsible both for the original work of Hrdlicka and others who subscribed to his beliefs, and for the failure to return the remains he collected to descendant communities in the decades since.

This work is not just about the necessity of repatriation, it’s also about interrogating and dismantling the racism that inspired these collections in the first place. Museums and universities throughout the world are contending with their own human remains collections. We are determined to be at the forefront of a long-overdue reckoning about ethical returns and repatriation.

The apology goes on to describe Smithsonian’s ongoing remediation.  So I guess I am good with the Smithsonian.  Their response is a model for nonprofit crisis management — admit your mistake and fix it.  So I guess I am good with the Smithsonian.  Not good good.  Just good.

darryll k. jones