The latest search for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has ended with the discovery of three more sets of remains containing gunshot wounds. This brings the total number of remains exhumed in Oaklawn Cemetery to 11. State archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck reported that two of the victims had evidence of munitions from two different weapons, while the third victim showed evidence of burning.
The remains will be sent to Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City for DNA and genealogical testing in an effort to identify them. This search is the fourth since Mayor G.T. Bynum launched the project in 2018, with a total of 47 remains now exhumed. Bynum expressed his hope that the search for victims will continue, regardless of who the next mayor may be.
A committee overseeing the search, which includes descendants of massacre survivors, expressed gratitude for the efforts to find victims’ remains. They hope that the search will bring justice and healing to the families of those who were lost in the massacre. The announcement of a new committee to study possible reparations for survivors and descendants of the massacre and for the north Tulsa area where it occurred was also made earlier this month.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was a long-suppressed episode of racial violence that saw the destruction of the community known as Black Wall Street and resulted in the deaths of as many as 300 Black people. Thousands were forced into internment camps, overseen by the National Guard, and over 1,200 homes, businesses, schools, and churches were destroyed.
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