In the 1880s, New Orleans physician Dr. Henry D. Schmidt provided 19 crania to Dr. Emil Ludwig Schmidt of Leipzig, Germany.
These human remains, belonging to African Americans, were acquired and used for racially biased scientific research.
In 2023, the University of Leipzig contacted the City of New Orleans Archaeologist with an offer to repatriate the remains, prompting the formation of a multi-agency effort.
This collaboration includes Dillard University, the City of New Orleans, University Medical Center and other community partners.
In a somber and powerful step towards justice, the memorial service will mark the return and remembrance of African Americans whose remains were acquired and cataloged as “specimens” during a time of rampant colonialism and racial pseudoscience.
The memorial service will recognize the international and local collaboration that made this repatriation possible.
During the 1800s when racial injustice was at its height, Charity Hospital did not deny care regardless of race, nationality, religion, sex or character. In continuation of that legacy, University Medical Center is honored to grant these 19 individuals the respect and peace they deserve.
All of the remains will be stored at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial.
Anthropologist Paul Wolff Michell comments:
- This is the first such repatriation of Black Americans from Europe to the US. Most (not all) individuals are named and identified.
- The University of Leipzig paid about $5000 for shipping, which is remarkable in this circumstance of institution to institution transfer.
The NYT adds to this:
- Sometime before Jan. 10, 1872, a young Black laborer named William Roberts checked himself into Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Just 23 years old, he was from Georgia and had a strong build, according to hospital records. His only recorded sickness was diarrhea.
- He was one of 19 Black patients who died at the hospital in December 1871 and January 1872, and whose skulls were sent to Germany to be studied by a doctor researching a now wholly discredited science that purported a correlation between the shape and size of a skull and a person’s intellect and character.
A poster announces the 31 May 2025 ceremony, and mentions the names of the 19, except for two of them.
