LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Twenty-four cultural belongings are leaving the Speed Art Museum and heading back to the Native communities they came from.
The Louisville museum held a ceremony Wednesday for representatives of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, who came to receive the items.
It was the first time the Speed Art Museum has held a repatriation event.
The return follows the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, which became law in 1990. The law requires federally funded museums and other institutions to inventory certain Native American belongings and return them to the appropriate tribes or descendants.
Museum staff also acknowledged the impact of keeping culturally significant items away from the communities they belong to.
"We acknowledge that because of their absence from their rightful communities, our keeping of these belongings are actively causing harm or being part of a harmful cycle," said Sirene Martin, an assistant coordinator at the Speed Art Museum.
The museum said the ceremony marks a step in its ongoing work with Native communities and its collection of cultural materials.
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