Centuries after Native American remains were dug up, a new law returns them for reburial in Illinois
JOHN O’CONNOR and MELISSA PEREZ WINDER
Associated Press
Updated
The Human Remains Protection Act, which Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed last month, complements a 30-year-old federal law requiring the repatriation of human remains and funerary, sacred and cultural objects that were unearthed in the course of European development of former Indian lands.…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — For centuries, Europeans carving up the prairie to suit their own idea of settlement dug up the graves of Native Americans as they conquered lands and pushed tribes to the West.
Matthew Bussler, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer at Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, uses mapping equipment Aug. 10 in Dowagiac, Mich. Americans whose ancestors called the state home hope a new law will speed the recovery and reburial of ancestors' remains unearthed over the past two centuries.
Brooke Morgan, curator of anthropology at the Illinois State Museum, works at the museum Aug. 18 in Springfield, Ill. Morgan said the new law ensures the return of remains to the land on which they were intended to rest.
Matthew Bussler, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer at Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, says it is critical that ancestors are returned “to the womb of Mother Earth,” not only so they may continue their journey in the hereafter, but to “redeem all of the pain and the suffering” of their tribe, especially their descendants.
Matthew Bussler, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer at Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, says it is critical that ancestors are returned “to the womb of Mother Earth,” not only so they may continue their journey in the hereafter, but to “redeem all of the pain and the suffering” of their tribe, especially their descendants.
Brooke Morgan, curator of anthropology at the Illinois State Museum, works at the museum Aug. 18 in Springfield, Ill. Morgan said the new law ensures the return of remains to the land on which they were intended to rest.
Matthew Bussler, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer at Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, uses mapping equipment Aug. 10 in Dowagiac, Mich. Americans whose ancestors called the state home hope a new law will speed the recovery and reburial of ancestors' remains unearthed over the past two centuries.
