‘Stolen and disrespected’: museum inters 200-year-old remains of Black Philadelphians

Bones had been used to provide disproven scientific justification for white supremacy before being housed in the Penn Museum

The remains of 19 Black Philadelphians have finally been laid to rest, almost 200 years after they were stolen and corralled into the Morton Cranial Collection, the world's largest 19th-century assemblage of human skulls. The individuals' bones had been used to provide pseudo-scientific justification for white supremacy in the lead-up to the American civil war.

The Penn Museum, the branch of the University of Pennsylvania which has housed the remains since 1966, staged an interfaith service on Saturday to commemorate their restitution to hallowed ground.