Finding Ceremony is a descendant-community-led process to restore lineages of care to the 1300+ skulls of ancestors and relatives from around the world, which the Penn Museum has held in the "Morton Cranial Collection." It is being convened by West Philadelphia writer and organizer Abdul-Aliy Muhammad & Dr. Lyra D. Monteiro of Rutgers University-Newark, building out of the objections that we each filed to The University of Pennsylvania's Orphans' Court petition to bury the crania of Black Philadelphians within the collection, without identifying or notifying their descendants, in July 2022. Our objections successfully halted the planned burials last summer, but following a hearing on February 2, 2023, Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper decreed that Penn had the right to bury the crania within the next year. 

This is an incredibly important moment for all who are concerned with the Penn Museum's mistreatment and historical desecration of our ancestors' remains--including those whose bodies were stolen in Philadelphia as well as around the world (see the staggering scope of Morton's theft of ancestral remains in this map.)  

This sign up form is only for our use, to facilitate our being able to reach out whenever we know more about what kinds of public support will be most effective at different stages in our work. More specific invitations and calls to action will be shared via email, as will more information to educate those who are new to the University of Pennsylvania's heinous treatment of ancestors.