Matthew C. Go
SNA International, supporting the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI, USA
Isis Dwyer
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Tisa N. Loewen
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Nandar Yukyi
Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, USA
Chaunesey Clemmons
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA
Sydney S. Garcia
SNA International, supporting the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI, USA
Kamar Afra
Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA
Fatimah A. Bouderdaben
Department of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA
Alba Craig
Department of Biology, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Isabel S. Melhado
Department of Biology, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Tanya Ramos
Department of Biology, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Ivanna Robledo
Department of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA
Evonne Turner-Byfield
Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Aaron J. Young
Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Jessica K. Juarez
Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
Elaine Y. Chu
Department of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA
An-Di Yim
Department of Health and Exercise Sciences, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, USA and Forensic Science Program, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
Allison Nesbitt
Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
Jesse R. Goliath
Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA
Abstract
Popular renditions on the history of forensic anthropology have traced the discipline’s roots back to early European anatomy and nineteenth to twentieth-century American research and applications to the legal system, often highlighting the works of several recurring figures. These forebearers are overwhelmingly composed of white men to the exclusion of, as we argue here, pioneers of color. As a counter to prevailing Eurocentric narratives, we present the biographies of diverse contemporaries who were equally foundational to the field, including Black Americans, immigrants, and luminaries outside of the Western world. Common themes among their experiences involved discrimination, a lack of opportunities and recognition, and a biocultural and humanistic praxis that demonstrate modern discourses within the forensic anthropology community are not novel. Ultimately, this work shows that the historical foundations of forensic anthropology, in both the United States and globally, include a far more diverse cast of pioneers than what the prevailing literature suggests and should serve as a springboard from which our discipline can grow, both in its past and in its future.
