The Smithsonian largely assembled the macabre hoard in the early 20th century under a racist scientist's direction.
The head of the Smithsonian Institution is apologising for the dark history behind its collection of human remains., Lonnie G Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, addressed how the institution amassed a collection of tens of thousands of body parts during the first half of the 20th century — taken largely from Black and Indigenous people, as well as other people of colour, and mostly without their consent.
Most of the remains, the Post found, were collected in the early 1900s under the direction of anthropologist Ales Hrdlicka, who sought to advance his now-debunked theories that white people were superior to people of colour. "It was abhorrent and dehumanising work, and it was carried out under the Smithsonian's name," Bunch wrote in an op-ed published on August 20. "As secretary of the Smithsonian, I condemn these past actions and apologise 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.
He continued, "I recognise, 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."
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