A letter written in the 1800s explains how a skull from a possible slave killed in Salvador ended up at Harvard University, in the United States, where it remained for 190 years. The mortal remains were returned on Wednesday (11), in a ceremony at the rectory of the Federal University of Bahia (Ufba), in the capital of Bahia.
The suspicion is that the skull is that of a black, enslaved man who fought in the Malês Revolt in 1835. The uprising was the largest and most important urban uprising of enslaved people in all of Brazil.
The skull was brought back to Bahia through an action that involved the State Islamic Cultural Center, the Federal University of Bahia (Ufba), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship (MDHC).
According to a Ufba report, in 1841 the skull was handed over by the then vice-consul of the United States in Alagoas, Gideon T. Snow, to the doctor John C. Howard.
A letter written by says that the skull belongs to an African from the Nagô tribe, leader of a revolt that occurred in 1835 - the same historical moment as the Malês Revolt. Check out the letter below:
"Skull of a genuine African, from the Nagô tribe, esteemed above all other tribes for its tall stature, width of shoulders, symmetry and strength of limbs, combined with an intelligence not usually found among black people from other tribes. This was the tribe that revolted last January (1835) and this was one of the leaders of the mutiny. He was killed after the most desperate protest, the courage of this tribe is as great as its Herculean strength".
After being handed over to physician John C. Howard, the skull became part of the collection of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, an elite medical society founded in Boston, United States, in 1828.
Centuries ago, scientists used the remains of black and indigenous people in research based on racist conceptions of inferiority.
In 1889, it was incorporated into the Warren Anatomical Museum, at Harvard's medical school, and in 1959 it was transferred to the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, also at the university, where it remained until the restitution process began.
The skull was identified in 2022 during a review of Harvard's collection of human remains. The first mention of it appeared in an internal report released in the same year.
After the discovery, the Bahia Islamic Cultural Center began negotiations for its return. According to Sheikh Hamid Al-Bakr Ahmed, leader of the center and responsible for the request, the return represents compliance with Islamic rules, after all the religion has wake and burial etiquettes.
"Islamic rule says that, where there is a Muslim, it is necessary to honor that person. Living or dead, it is a human being, and there are rules [to follow]. We need to do our part", explained the Sheikh.
Ufba supported the request made by the Center and, in 2024, the Federal Government entered the process through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship (MDHC). The procedures lasted four years, until finally the skull was brought back to Bahia.
If the Islamic origin is proven, the religious community advocates that the skull be buried following the precepts of the religion. In tradition, the body must be buried even when only one of the mortal parts is available.
Before burial, the skull will be temporarily kept in the custody of the university.
Also known as the Great Insurrection, the movement took place on January 25, 1835 and was organized by Yoruba Muslims, coming from regions in what are now Nigeria and Benin.
The uprising involved around 600 men and women who fought for the freedom of enslaved people who followed the Islamic religion, known as Malês.
The revolt began in the old Ladeira da Praça, which connects Praça Municipal to Baixa dos Sapateiros. Since 2024, the place has been called “Ladeira Revolta dos Malês”.
Despite planning, the plan was discovered and the members of the movement were surrounded in the Água de Meninos region. In the confrontation, dozens were killed and the Revolt was put down with the arrest of hundreds of enslaved people.
After the revolt, a decree began authorizing any citizen to arrest slaves, Muslim or not, who were gathered together in numbers of four or more. Gathering people at home, for example, became strictly prohibited.
