What remains: no justice, no peace

Across the country, the remains of tens of thousands of people are stored in museums and institutions. Scientists say they helped lay the foundations of forensic science and unlock the secrets of humanity’s shared past.

But these bones were also collected before informed consent was the gold standard for ethical studies. In the 19th and 20th centuries, doctors and anthropologists took unclaimed corpses from almshouses and hospitals, robbed graves, and plundered indigenous bones from sacred sites.

Under pressure from activists and an evolving scientific community, these institutions are now rethinking what to do with their unethically collected human remains.

Outside/In producer Felix Poon has unofficially earned a reputation as the podcast’s “Death Beat” correspondent. He visited one human decomposition plant (also known as “body farming”), reported on the growing trend of “green burial” and researched the use of psychedelic mushrooms to help terminal cancer patients face death.

In this three-part series from Outside/In, Felix takes us to Philadelphia, where the prestigious Penn Museum has promised to “respectfully present” hundreds of skulls collected by the 19th-century physician Samuel George Morton, who used them to pursue pseudoscientific theories attributed”. of white supremacy. These efforts were met with support from some and anger and distrust from others.

Along the way, Felix examines the long legacy of scientific racism, outstanding questions surrounding the 1985 MOVE bombing, and evolving ethics in the field of biological anthropology.

Can the institutions that have long profited from these remnants be trusted to abandon them? And if so, who decides what happens next?

Part 1: What is past is prologue

A classroom display of human skulls sparks a reckoning at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.

With Paul Wolff Mitchell, Christopher Woods, Lyra Monteiro and Aliy Muhammad.

Read the full transcript here.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

The Morton Cranial Collection

The MOVE bombing and MOVE remain controversial

CREDITS

Outdoor/Indoor Moderator: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by Felix Poon with assistance 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

Special thanks to Buffy Gorilla.

The music in this episode is by Lennon Hutton and Blue Dot Sessions. The theme music for the miniseries “What Remains” was written by Lennon Hutton

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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