After more than a century in Germany, the skulls of 19 Black Americans have been repatriated too New Orleans, marking the end of a long and painful chapter in the history of racial science.These individuals, including marie Louise, Hiram Malone, and Samuel Prince, were patients at a New orleans hospital in the 1870s. Their remains were sent overseas for research rooted in phrenology, a discredited pseudoscience.

The Individuals

• Marie Louise: A lifelong New Orleanian who died of malnutrition.
• Hiram Malone: Came to Louisiana from Alabama,hospitalized at 21 with a fatal case of pneumonia.
• Samuel Prince: A 40-year-old cook, who succumbed to tuberculosis.

These are just three of the 19 Black patients whose heads were removed after their deaths and sent to Germany for study. The university of Leipzig eventually acknowledged that the skulls had been acquired in a colonial context and unethically.

The Pseudoscience of Phrenology

Phrenology, popular in the 19th century, purported to link a person’s intellect and morality to the size and shape of their skull. This flawed science was frequently enough used to promote racist theories, suggesting the superiority of one race over another.

A Memorial and Homecoming

On a Saturday, the repatriated remains were honored in a multi-faith memorial and laid to rest in a jazz funeral, a tradition deeply rooted in New Orleans culture. Eva Baham, a historian from Dillard University who led the cultural repatriation committee, spoke during the service:

We can’t be sure exactly where they came from. And so here, we have them. And what are we to make of what happened to them? You can be angry. You could be upset, rightly so. But we can’t stay there.
Eva Baham, Dillard University

The Return Process

The University of Leipzig contacted the city archeologist in New Orleans in 2023, initiating a two-year return process involving city, state, and academic institutions. This restitution is a significant event, highlighting the ongoing issue of African American remains lingering in archival collections across the U.S. and abroad.

Reconstructing Lives

Researchers believe that many of the 19 individuals had been enslaved, later gaining freedom after the Civil War. They eventually became ill or were institutionalized before arriving at Charity Hospital in New Orleans,one of the nation’s oldest hospitals serving the city’s poor. Hospital death records helped Baham’s team reconstruct some biographical details of the 13 men and four women; two remain unidentified.

A Student’s Account

At the memorial, Dillard students shared accounts of the individuals’ lives and their journey home:

Another voyage across the Atlantic, passing bones of enslaved Africans on the ocean floor. From Africa, to the Caribbean, to the United Sates of America; from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Leipzig, Germany; from Leipzig, Germany to New Orleans, Louisiana – justice carries 19 men and women home. May they walk freely in the city of God, in dignity and in honour.

A Ceremony of Remembrance

The ceremony included prayers from ten religious leaders of different faiths, an African drum and dance performance, and a jazz band accompanying the procession. handlers in white gloves carried memorial vessels containing the skulls for interment.

Moving Forward

Baham emphasized the importance of learning from the past:

These people’s lives had meaning. History is not to wallow in, or wind about. It is indeed to build on. It is to move forward. And when we keep our past hidden, we’re starting over every day.
Eva Baham, Dillard University