Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

New Orleans Buries African American Skulls Used in Racist Research
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
06 Jun 2025
🖨️ Print Article

Black Agenda Radio · New Orleans Buries African American Skulls Used in Racist Research

Nineteen Black people who died at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, in December 1871 and January 1872 were decapitated and their skulls were removed and sent to Leipzig, Germany for study in the racist pseudo-science known as phrenology. In 2023, the University of Leipzig contacted New Orleans officials and offered to repatriate the skulls, which were recently returned. On May 31st, a jazz funeral was held for these men and women, and the remains were properly interred. Our guest is Dr. Eva Baham. She is a professor at Dillard University in New Orleans and Chair of the Repatriation Committee.

Louisiana
Germany
Colonialism
African America
Racist Medicine

Related Podcasts

BAR Radio Logo
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio May 8, 2026
08 May 2026
In this week’s segment, we discuss a military attack carried out by Western-backed insurgents against the African nation Mali and the imperialist a
ACLU
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Louisiana v. Callais and the Black Vote
08 May 2026
The Supreme Court ruling in the case Louisiana v.
Lousiana
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
The Struggle for Black Electoral Power in Louisiana
08 May 2026
C.C. Campbell Rock is a New Orleans-based journalist.

More Stories


  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    10 Jun 2020
    This week police brutality and racism in the United States and Brazil were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Elizabeth R. Baer’s “The Genocidal Gaze”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Elizabeth R. Baer’s “The Genocidal Gaze”
    10 Jun 2020
    In Southwest Africa the Germans devised the methodology which they would re-use in the Holocaust thirty years later.  
  • BAR Book Forum: Douglas Flowe’s “Uncontrollable Blackness”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Douglas Flowe’s “Uncontrollable Blackness”
    10 Jun 2020
    Black men are besieged by an American crucible uniquely designed for them in the early twentieth century.
  • White Images, Black Reality: How to Talk to the Accidental Apologists for Monsters
    Earl Hazell
    White Images, Black Reality: How to Talk to the Accidental Apologists for Monsters
    10 Jun 2020
    The author offers some thoughts on how to deal with white people that seek to dominate Black political discussion on social media. 
  • . Global Africa Must Defeat Global Imperialist Policing
    Mark P. Fancher
    Global Africa Must Defeat Global Imperialist Policing
    10 Jun 2020
    Africans have flooded into the streets of Britain, Germany, Brazil, France and many other countries, not only in solidarity, but also as part of their own resistance. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us