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Article: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NATIVE AMERICAN GRAVES PROTECTION AND REPATRIATION ACT
NATIVE AMERICAN GRAVES PROTECTION AND REPATRIATION ACT.
In 1989, the U.S. Congress passed the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Act (Public Law 101-185), which preceded the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) by one year. The NMAI Act created a new museum within the Smithsonian Institution devoted to American Indians that incorporated the collections of the Heye Foundation in New York City. One part of the NMAI Act provided for the repatriation to lineal descendants or culturally affiliated tribes of Native American human remains and funerary objects held at the Smithsonian. This repatriation ...