1972 “Your white man’s Bible says that all men shall return to the dust from where they came,” said Carl Decora, local AIM director. “We feel our Indian brothers have the same right.”

Indian Opposes Skeleton Display

1972 Oct 8, Hartford Courant 

            Harvey Major is a Canadian Chippewa Indian who has run a barber shop in Des Moines, Iowa, for 18 years. He is personally offended by a display of live Indian skeletons at the Iowa Historical Museum.

      Jack Musgrove is the veteran curator of the museum, bound by law to preserve relics and remains important to Iowa’s past. He believes the skeletons, have immense historical value.

      In the middle of the dispute is Gov. Robert D. Ray, who promised Friday to study the situation and determine what steps must be taken if the bones are to be reburied.

      Major and about a dozen other Iowa Indians met with Ray and Musgrove Friday to present their arguments. After an hour and a half of sometimes heated discussion, Ray could only promise further study.

      Major and his Indian companions, most of whom are members of the Des Moines chapter of the militant American Indian Movement (AIM), said the bones at the museum are offensive and degrading to their culture. They said public display of the skeletons is against Indian religious beliefs and places the bones in a “circus like atmosphere.”

      “Your white man’s Bible says that all men shall return to the dust from where they came,” said Carl Decora, local AIM director. “We feel our Indian brothers have the same right.”

      Musgrove said the remains have great historical value and should be preserved for study. He said such displays will become even more valuable in the future when advanced archaeological tools make the study of ancient artifacts even more precise (UPI).

1972 Oct 8, Hartford Courant