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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Mississippi

Institutions reported making 57% of the more than 2,200 Native American remains taken from Mississippi available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.

remains of 1,317 Native Americans made available for return to tribes
remains of at least 975 Native Americans not made available for return

There are five institutions located in Mississippi that reported Native American remains taken from across the country.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History55149647%
Mississippi State University, Cobb Institute of Archaeology19617948%
U.S. Department of Defense51814%
University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Anthropology and Sociology365661%
U.S. Department of the Interior0491100%

There are 21 institutions that reported Native American remains taken from Mississippi.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History55149647%
Mississippi State University, Cobb Institute of Archaeology19417948%
Harvard University1704621%
University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Anthropology and Sociology355260%
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology2100%
American Museum of Natural History200%
Louisiana Cultural Heritage Museum100%
University of Memphis100%
Appalachian State University, Department of Anthropology01100%
Bryn Mawr College03100%
Indiana University02100%
Louisiana State University02100%
Memphis Pink Palace Museum08100%
Museum of Us01100%
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy010100%
U.S. Department of Defense0181100%
U.S. Department of the Interior0329100%
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology02100%
University of Missouri, Columbia, Museum of Anthropology01100%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill03100%
Yale University, Peabody Museum of Natural History01100%
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, when an institution establishes a connection between tribes and remains, it must publish a list of the tribes eligible to make a repatriation claim. The remains are then made available for return to the tribe(s). Once a tribal claim is made, physical transfer may occur. Many remains have been physically returned to tribes, but data on this is spotty because the law does not require institutions to report when these transfers occur.

Institutions made Native American remains taken from Mississippi available for return to 16 tribes.

Institutions often make remains available for return to multiple tribes, so the amount of remains listed below may be counted for more than one tribe.
TribeRemains Made Available for Return to Tribe
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma1,003
Chickasaw Nation916
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians904
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas671
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma671
Muscogee (Creek) Nation574
Quapaw Nation562
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana547
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians498
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma498
Osage Nation498
Jena Band of Choctaw Indians355
Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe197
Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana129
Cherokee Nation63
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma63

Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 47 counties in Mississippi.

CountyRemains Taken From County Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Oktibbeha County21615742%
Yazoo County14621%
Grenada County13600%
Coahoma County1284727%
Wilkinson County42714%
Sharkey County4000%
Adams County312847%
Tallahatchie County2800%
Issaquena County2600%
Washington County2614%
Humphreys County2015%
Warren County1815%
Madison County16833%
Carroll County1200%
Copiah County1200%
Bolivar County11842%
Jackson County102773%
Jefferson County93278%
Hancock County7646%
Hinds County700%
Leflore County500%
Sunflower County500%
Harrison County4969%
Claiborne County312498%
Rankin County300%
DeSoto County29998%
Noxubee County200%
Pike County200%
Itawamba County14298%
Chickasaw County023100%
Clay County072100%
Kemper County01100%
Lafayette County010100%
Lee County0114100%
Lowndes County082100%
Monroe County010100%
Panola County012100%
Pontotoc County02100%
Prentiss County011100%
Quitman County093100%
Simpson County01100%
Tate County01100%
Tishomingo County010100%
Tunica County0233100%
Union County04100%
Webster County01100%
Yalobusha County018100%
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About the Data

This tool presents a dataset maintained by the National Park Service containing all the Native American human remains and associated funerary objects that institutions have reported to the federal government under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The dataset includes information about the state and county where remains and objects were taken from, which institutions hold them and whether they have been made available for return to tribes.

The data is self-reported by institutions. The amount of unrepatriated Native American remains reported by institutions is a minimum estimate of individuals and institutions frequently adjust these numbers when they reinventory groups of remains. Some institutions that are subject to NAGPRA have also entirely failed to report the remains in their possession. As a result, the numbers provided are best taken as estimates. The actual number and geographic scope of what’s held by publicly funded institutions is larger than what is presently documented.

ProPublica supplemented this dataset with information about cultural affiliation and disposition to specific tribes by systematically parsing the text of Notices of Inventory Completion published in the Federal Register. An additional dataset from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Tribal Directory Assessment Tool, was used for the section on remains not made available for return from counties that each tribe has indicated interest in to the federal government.

Institution location and tribal headquarters location information was provided by National NAGPRA. The location of some groups that are not federally recognized was provided through research by ProPublica.

Institutions that are part of a larger entity are grouped. (For example, the Mesa Verde National Park is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.)

Institutions that have not submitted information to the federal government are not listed. The Smithsonian Institution is not listed because its repatriation process falls under the National Museum of the American Indian Act and it is not required to publicly report its holdings with the same detail as institutions subject to NAGPRA.

If you work for an institution and would like to provide comment on your institution’s repatriation efforts, please email [email protected]. If you think the data is incorrect or have a data request, please get in touch. We are aware of some issues with the accuracy of location information and tribes mistakenly being identified for disposition of Native American remains in published notices.

If you want to share something else with ProPublica, we’d like to hear from you.

If you have questions about implementing or complying with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, get in touch with National NAGPRA or the NAGPRA Community of Practice.

We use the word “tribes” to refer to all groups that institutions made Native American remains available to under NAGPRA. This includes tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities, Native Alaskan villages, Native Hawaiian organizations and non-federally recognized groups.

Data sources from Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National NAGPRA Program, the Federal Register, Department of Housing and Development, Tribal Directory Assessment Tool