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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Tennessee

Institutions reported making 63% of the more than 11,900 Native American remains taken from Tennessee available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.

remains of 7,466 Native Americans made available for return to tribes
remains of at least 4,444 Native Americans not made available for return

There are 12 institutions located in Tennessee 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
University of Tennessee, Knoxville3,9292,32937%
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology37447856%
U.S. Department of Defense15019256%
Vanderbilt University8620871%
University of Memphis8555387%
U.S. Department of the Interior3813%
Memphis Pink Palace Museum351834%
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga1000%
Children's Museum of Oak Ridge02100%
Tennessee Valley Authority014,134100%
U.S. Department of Agriculture046100%
U.S. Department of Energy01100%

There are 39 institutions that reported Native American remains taken from Tennessee.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
University of Tennessee, Knoxville3,6571714%
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology36947856%
Harvard University14062682%
U.S. Department of Defense1224828%
Vanderbilt University8620871%
U.S. Department of the Interior3515381%
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga1000%
University of Memphis654899%
State Museum of Pennsylvania400%
University of Kentucky, William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology400%
Beloit College, Logan Museum of Anthropology300%
Bridgewater College300%
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy200%
Illinois State Museum1150%
University of California, Berkeley100%
Wisconsin Historical Society100%
American Museum of Natural History015100%
Amherst College, Beneski Museum of Natural History01100%
Charleston Museum01100%
Children's Museum of Oak Ridge02100%
Dartmouth College, Hood Museum of Art01100%
Georgia State University08100%
Grand Rapids Public Museum01100%
Indiana University02100%
Memphis Pink Palace Museum04100%
Murray State University, Archaeology Laboratory03100%
New York University, College of Dentistry018100%
Tennessee Valley Authority05,098100%
U.S. Department of Agriculture046100%
U.S. Department of Energy01100%
University of Arizona, Arizona State Museum01100%
University of Arkansas02100%
University of Denver, Museum of Anthropology02100%
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign01100%
University of Iowa, Office of the State Archaeologist02100%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill010100%
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology03100%
University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Anthropology and Sociology01100%
Wesleyan University, Archaeology Laboratory010100%
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 Tennessee available for return to 19 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
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians5,997
Chickasaw Nation5,957
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma5,916
Cherokee Nation5,535
Muscogee (Creek) Nation4,448
Shawnee Tribe4,149
Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma4,147
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma4,146
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma4,140
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town4,140
Kialegee Tribal Town4,139
Poarch Band of Creek Indians4,139
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas4,138
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana4,138
Jena Band of Choctaw Indians4,138
The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma4,138
Quapaw Nation386
Institution could not determine a culturally affiliated tribe and remains were transferred or reinterred according to state or other law21
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma1

Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 69 counties in Tennessee.

CountyRemains Taken From County Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Davidson County1,10220316%
Monroe County94949834%
Stewart County43616427%
Henry County22841965%
Bradley County18057576%
Sumner County1462414%
Roane County11333575%
Greene County9888%
Shelby County9838580%
Cocke County8500%
Humphreys County8314664%
Montgomery County8000%
Smith County6911%
Blount County6600%
Hamilton County6465791%
Knox County6223%
Jackson County4112%
Cheatham County4000%
Jefferson County4043992%
Loudon County3716181%
Claiborne County34717%
Wilson County3400%
Polk County301635%
Anderson County2936193%
Sullivan County2600%
Scott County2000%
White County2000%
Sevier County1800%
Robertson County1400%
Grainger County900%
Rhea County710194%
Marion County63184%
Marshall County600%
Perry County56793%
Hamblen County400%
Hawkins County31886%
Union County300%
Campbell County21789%
Fentress County200%
McMinn County221299%
Trousdale County29998%
Benton County1473100%
Macon County100%
Morgan County100%
Washington County14698%
Williamson County1610100%
Bedford County010100%
Carter County02100%
Coffee County0117100%
Decatur County0121100%
Dickson County04100%
Franklin County04100%
Gibson County015100%
Hancock County036100%
Hardeman County01100%
Hardin County039100%
Haywood County037100%
Hickman County0118100%
Lake County02100%
Lauderdale County018100%
Lincoln County027100%
McNairy County01100%
Madison County024100%
Maury County084100%
Meigs County0425100%
Obion County097100%
Rutherford County021100%
Tipton County015100%
Wayne County01100%
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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