Inside the Smithsonian’s “Racial Brain Collection” and the Eugenics Project Behind It

The Smithsonian has formed a task force to address the massive collection of human remains held by its museums, which includes 255 human brains that were removed primarily from dead Black and Indigenous people, as well as other people of color, without the consent or knowledge of their families. The so-called racial brain collection was revealed by a Washington Post investigation. It was mostly collected in the first half of the 20th century at the behest of Ales Hrdlicka, a racist anthropologist who was trying to scientifically prove the superiority of white people. We speak with reporters Nicole Dungca and Claire Healy about the series and what they found. Dungca is also president of the Asian American Journalists Association.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: We end today’s looking at a major investigation by The Washington Post that revealed the Smithsonian Institution holds a so-called racial brain collection that contains 255 brains gathered in the first half of the 20th century. Much of it was collected at the behest of a... see more