This is a summary of the “No More Stolen Ancestors” story created with ArcGIS StoryMaps. For more detailed information, we invite you to visit the story created by Joseph Nicholas Butler and Domonique deBeaubien.
For centuries, the Seminole people have called the lands of Florida home. They built thriving communities—trading, crafting, and preserving a rich cultural heritage. But with the arrival of European colonizers, their world was upended. Waves of war, disease, and forced displacement decimated their population. Even in death, their ancestors were not granted peace. Burial sites were raided, and the remains of their loved ones were boxed up and shipped to museums and institutions, treated as historical artifacts rather than family members.
Today, the Seminole Tribe is fighting to bring them home.
Their mission is rooted in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), a federal law passed in 1990 requiring institutions to return Indigenous remains and sacred objects. But despite the legislation, repatriation has been slow. Thousands of Seminole ancestors remain in storage, unreturned. Now, through a groundbreaking initiative, the Tribe is leveraging technology to map the scale of this injustice and reclaim what was stolen.
With the No More Stolen Ancestors campaign, the Seminole Tribe is using geographic information system (GIS) technology to track the movement of their ancestors’ remains—where they were taken from, where they are now, and how to bring them back. The Tribe has built a Repatriation Portal, a comprehensive digital tool that visualizes the vast network of stolen ancestors and burial sites, cutting through bureaucratic obstacles and rewriting the colonial narrative that has kept them from their rightful resting places.
This project is more than data points on a map. It is a testament to resilience, an assertion of sovereignty, and an act of justice. Every plotted coordinate represents a life disrupted, a community fractured, and a people fighting to heal.
Joseph Nicholas Butler and Domonique deBeaubien, the architects behind this effort, submitted their story to the 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps competition, where it became a finalist. But this story was too important to keep confined to a competition—it is a call to action.
The Seminole Tribe invites you to explore their story to witness firsthand the scope of this historical injustice, and to stand in solidarity with their fight for repatriation. The journey home has begun.
Discover the story.
For additional information, please visit the Seminole Tribe of Florida Tribal Historic Preservation Office’s website.
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