“The Rosa Parks of NAGPRA”

Used with permission, University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist

By Alexis Redshaw

In 1971, Maria Pearson (Running Moccasins) would learn shocking information from her husband, John Pearson, pushing her to make changes that would fundamentally impact the art and museum world in their treatment of Indigenous remains and objects. John, an engineer working for the present day Iowa Department of Transportation,^[1] learned about construction occurring near the city of Council Bluffs, Iowa, where a highway was to be built through a cemetery.^[2] To address the issue of reburial, the State Archeologist team was tasked with relocating those buried in the cemetery; however, not all of the excavated human remains were treated equally in this process. Of the twenty-eight remains found in the cemetery, two were singled out amongst the group. While the twenty-six bodies found of white individuals were reburied in a different cemetery, the remains of an Indigenous woman and her infant were transported to the Office of the State Archeologist for scientific use.^[3]

Maria belonged to the Sioux Nation. She was upset and stunned to learn her ancestors’ remains were treated in such a prejudiced and disrespectful way. This news would prompt her to travel to Des Moines, Iowa, arriving in Indigenous regalia to address the governor about the discrimination and mistreatment of Indigenous remains and cultural heritage occurring in her state.^[4]