Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Daderot The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology has found among its holdings the remains of 15 people of African descent who were likely alive when slavery was legal in the United States, University president Lawrence S. Bacow announced in an email today. The discovery was made during a review conducted, Bacow wrote, “as part of an assessment of its ethical stewardship practices and in the spirit of continuing efforts to understand the legacy of slavery at Harvard.” “We must begin to confront the reality of a past in which academic curiosity and opportunity overwhelmed humanity,” Bacow wrote. “These individuals represent a chapter in our history that we must confront. I commend our faculty and staff at the Peabody for responding to our national conversation on race by subjecting to greater scrutiny their holdings of human remains.