Centuries after Native American remains were dug up, a new law returns them for reburial in Illinois

By JOHN O’CONNOR and MELISSA PEREZ WINDER
Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois officials and Native Americans whose ancestors called the state home hope a new state law will speed the recovery and reburial of their relatives’ remains unearthed over the past two centuries. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Human Remains Protection Act last month. It updates a 1989 state law and provides methods for compliance with a federal law requiring that remains from any burial site disturbed must be returned to the associated tribe. Illinois has remains belonging to about 13,000 individuals. The law authorizes reburial on state land in Illinois. Previously tribes would receive their ancestors’ remains but have to take them home to the state to which the government forcibly relocated them in the 19th century.