Harvard In Talks To Return Tomahawk Of Native American Civil Rights Icon The gates leading to Harvard Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. Charles Krupa / AP Share Standing Bear Tomahawk Update A descendant of Native American civil rights pioneer Standing Bear is now in talks with Harvard University to have a tomahawk once belonging to the Ponca chief repatriated. Earlier this month, GBH News first reported on Brett Chapman’s effort to get Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to turn over the relic. In a follow-up interview with GBH All Things Considered host Arun Rath, Chapman said that conversations with the school are getting underway.