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


  • Expect Police-Military Repression Amid the Crisis of COVID-19 and Its Aftermath
    Netfa Freeman
    Expect Police-Military Repression Amid the Crisis of COVID-19 and Its Aftermath
    08 Apr 2020
    The rulers are concerned about the class war becoming sharper in the current crisis and they are preparing to send in the military and police to quell dissent.
  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    08 Apr 2020
    This week you discussed Black Marxism and the Bernie Sanders campaign.
  • BAR Book Forum: Xavier Livermon’s  “Kwaito Bodies”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Xavier Livermon’s  “Kwaito Bodies”
    08 Apr 2020
    The author examines how Black youth in post-apartheid South Africa imagine freedom under tremendous systems of constraint. ​​​​​​​
  • BAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: Chicago Community Bond Fund
    Dean Spade and Roberto Sirvent, BAR Contributors
    BAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: Chicago Community Bond Fund
    08 Apr 2020
    This arena of the mutual aid movement is energized by “a vision of the absence of prisons, jails, detention, and criminalization.”
  • Blacks May be Bearing the Brunt of Covid-19, But Access to Data is Limited
    Elizabeth Cooney
    Blacks May be Bearing the Brunt of Covid-19, But Access to Data is Limited
    08 Apr 2020
    The feds don’t keep racial data on the coronavirus, but local reports show Blacks are dying at multiple the rates of whites in some cities.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us