Illinois spent decades refusing to repatriate Native American burial remains

Illinois’ state museum system holds more than 7,000 burial remains taken from Native American mounds and other sites. Yet, despite a 1990 federal law that required museums start returning remains, Illinois did “close to nothing” for more than 20 years. That finding is among the takeaways from ProPublica reporter Logan Jaffe’s latest investigation. She discusses her findings on the Illinois State Museum system, its decades-long refusal to return thousands of burial remains to tribal groups, and also signs that this pattern may be changing for the better.