Native American Repatriation Issues

What was the experience of the Inuit people brought to New York by Robert E. Peary in 1897?

• They were welcomed and quickly integrated into American society.

• They were put on display in a museum, and many tragically died from diseases.

• They were immediately sent back to Greenland after a brief exhibition.

• They became valuable partners in scientific exploration.

How many Native graves are estimated to have been dug up in the United States between the 1780s and the 1970s?

• Fewer than 50,000

• Approximately 250,000

• Between 600,000 and over 1 million

• Exactly 5 million

What was a common justification given by some early American museums and scientists for collecting Native American artifacts and human remains?

• To return these items to their original communities for preservation.

• To preserve the history of Native peoples who they believed would soon disappear.

• To promote cultural exchange and understanding between different groups.

• To use the artifacts as educational tools for Native American children.

What was the unethical purpose behind some early anthropologists and scientists measuring Native American skulls?

• To study the evolution of human intelligence across different populations.

• To support false claims of white racial superiority.

• To develop new medical treatments based on skull variations.

• To understand the impact of environmental factors on physical traits.

What was a common issue with how early anthropologists interacted with Native communities?

• They always treated Native people as equal partners in research.

• They rarely shared their research findings with Native elders.

• They focused solely on collecting stories, not physical remains.

• They always correctly interpreted Native elders' stories.

What was the main goal of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)?

• To allow museums to keep all Native American artifacts.

• To prevent any further archaeological excavations.

• To return Native American artifacts and ancestral remains to their rightful tribes.

• To establish new archaeological sites for study.

Why are many Native American ancestral remains still held in museums despite NAGPRA?

• The law only applies to institutions that receive federal funding.

• All tribes have refused to accept the return of remains.

• Museums are legally allowed to keep all artifacts found before 1990.

• There is no process for tribes to request the return of items.

What is a key characteristic of "decolonized archaeology and anthropology"?

• It focuses on research conducted only by non-Indigenous experts.

• It prioritizes the collection of artifacts over community input.

• It involves research done with, for, and by Indigenous peoples.

• It aims to keep all historical artifacts in museums.