Peabody Museum

James Baldwin’s inkwell, Malcolm X’s tape recorder, a lock of Frederick Douglass’s hair. These are some of the physical manifestations of Black history, oppression and transcendence that artist Wendel White photographed for his book “Manifest: Thirteen Colonies” and the eponymous exhibition the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University.

Following Harvard University’s disclosure that it has held in its collections hair samples taken from 700 Native American children, local activists are calling for passage of legislation that would enable tribes to recover from museums human remains, sacred objects and other items stolen or taken illegally from Indigenous people.