RIO DE JANEIRO — Two skulls believed to be the remains of Africans or Afro-Brazilians were repatriated to Brazil on Wednesday after decades at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The remains, removed from Brazil during the 19th century, were used in racist eugenics studies.
One skull was taken approximately 190 years ago from Salvador, the capital of Bahia state. This individual is believed to have participated in Brazil's largest slave revolt. The second was removed about 160 years ago from Rio de Janeiro.
Brazilian diplomats transported the remains in padded boxes secured within reinforced suitcases during flights from the United States. The repatriation followed a four-year campaign to recover them.
The remains were welcomed in subdued ceremonies held in both Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian researchers from local universities will now undertake efforts to learn more about the two individuals.
The Brazilian government pledged that the skulls will not be displayed in museums or have their images released publicly. Officials committed to burying the remains with appropriate funeral rites once identification concludes.
Carolina Dias dos Reis, a government official, traveled to Boston to sign the agreement with Harvard. "It's very important to restore the dignity of these people, which was taken from them in life and in death," Reis said.
The skulls' existence became public in 2022. Brazilian researchers initiated repatriation efforts from Harvard, but faced a drawn-out process. The Brazilian government's involvement in late 2024 accelerated the effort.
Concerns had arisen that the relationship between President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva could impede the repatriation. Despite political tensions, the process moved forward.
Reis said the repatriation helps Brazil confront its history. "We need to recover our past as a country, however difficult and violent it was, so that we can understand what we are living through in the present: the consequences and scars of structural racism."
Slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888. Nearly a century and a half later, Afro-Brazilians constitute the majority of the population but consistently rank lowest across socioeconomic indicators. They disproportionately experience hunger, poverty, gender-based violence, and homicides.
During the Rio de Janeiro ceremony, Ivanir dos Santos, a history professor and Candomblé cleric, performed a ritual, pouring water onto the ground as researchers received one of the suitcases. "It was a ritual act because you cannot deal with the remains of our ancestors without paying reverence to them. This is not a research object … for us, that person is still alive in memory and as our ancestor," Santos said.
