Thesis

Restoring Honor: NAGPRA Restoring Rights and
​​​​​​​Responsibilities to Native Graves

Thesis

​​​​​​​Picture by the National Park Service

"Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow before a summer sun. Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle, give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead and everything that is dear and sacred to us? I know you will cry with me, ‘Never! Never!’"
~ Tecumsah Shawnee

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Throughout American history, archeologists have dug numerous sites where they have found Native American graves and bodies. They took remains to scientific laboratories to do genetic studies and find out how old the bodies were. Furthermore, they kept them in museums and institutions without consulting Native Americans. As a result, sensitive objects and remains have been kept against the tribes’ will in museums across the country. The Natives viewed this as a violation of their rights. In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), giving museum staff the responsibility to inventory remains and affiliated objects. Tribes can then present evidence of affiliation or ancestry and have the remains returned to the rightful owner. However, initially museums and scientists opposed the bill as they thought returning the remains could hinder scientific research, and that they had a right to the remains. Because of NAGPRA, over 38,500 objects and remains have been reburied according to the wishes of Native American tribes, giving them the right to closure and peace while strengthening understanding and respect between scientists and Native Americans.

"In the United States, native peoples have joined forces and insisted that such behavior is immoral and professionally unethical, and have demanded materials be repatriated and, as appropriate, reburied (Klesert and Downer 1990; Layton 1989; Quick 1985).  Congress has responded to this concern with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), and has amended the National  Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) to (among other things) accommodate Indian tribes."
Klesert and Powell