In 2021, amid surging activism in the Movement for Black Lives, the Smithsonian Institution (SI) drew widespread attention for its collections of human remains from African Americans and thousands of other individuals from the United States and around the world. Primarily located at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the vast majority of these individuals were collected during the early to mid 20th century. About half of them are Native American people and are subject to repatriation requirements under the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Act, but for non-Native American individuals, there is no federal legislation with statutory protections and requirements for their return. In response to growing awareness and ethical concerns about the continuing research and curation of human remains without consent from the individuals, their families, or their descendant communities, the SI began to develop a policy and a dedicated program for the return of non-Native American human remains under their care. In this presentation, Sabrina Sholts, Curator of Biological Anthropology and interim co-lead of the new Human Dignity Program at the NMNH, will discuss this process in the broader context of ethical stewardship and study of human remains in museum collections.