Penn Museum Apologizes For 'Unethical Possession Of Human Remains'

Dozens of human skulls of Black people — some hundreds of years old — will be returned to their communities of origin for reburial, according to a commitment by the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.

Last week, the Penn Museum issued both an apology for possessing the skulls in its historic Morton Collection, and outlined a plan to repatriate them.

"The Penn Museum and the University of Pennsylvania apologize for the unethical possession of human remains in the Morton Collection," wrote Christopher Woods, who became the new director of Penn Museum on April 1. "It is time for these individuals to be returned to their ancestral communities, wherever possible, as a step toward atonement and repair for the racist and colonial practices that were integral to the formation of these collections."