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


  • Diseased System in Shut-Lockdown: Never a Better Time to Fight for Socialism
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Diseased System in Shut-Lockdown: Never a Better Time to Fight for Socialism
    23 Apr 2020
    The current health and economic crisis will dramatically accelerate the processes of corporate monopolization, finance capital dictatorship, and working class precarity and immiseration.
  • Freedom Rider: Racism In and Against China
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Racism In and Against China
    22 Apr 2020
    The COVID-19 pandemic has resuscitated the old “yellow peril” canard to its fullest extent, revealing deep xenophobia and racist intent against China. 
  • U.S. Response to COVID-19 Equals Genocide for Blacks, but “Progressive” Leaders Offer Nothing But Words
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    U.S. Response to COVID-19 Equals Genocide for Blacks, but “Progressive” Leaders Offer Nothing But Words
    22 Apr 2020
    AOC and Bernie Sanders made public condemnations of the corporate bailout but did little in the way of resistance.
  • Pentagon Brass Can Kiss My Ass
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Pentagon Brass Can Kiss My Ass
    22 Apr 2020
    The coronavirus-stricken crew of the USS Roosevelt would be more useful making N-95 masks, building housing for people living on the streets, and tilling community gardens to prepare for suppl
  • I had a nightmare (For friend/fellow Poet Genny Lim)
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    I had a nightmare (For friend/fellow Poet Genny Lim)
    22 Apr 2020
    I had a nightmare that down in Mississippi, its governor having his lips  dripping with words of Social Darwinism, Herd immunity and Mengele Medicine,
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us