The latest search for the remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma City has ended with three more sets containing gunshot wounds being discovered. A total of 11 sets of remains were exhumed during the latest excavation in Oaklawn Cemetery, with two individuals displaying evidence of munitions from two different weapons and a third individual showing signs of burning. The searchers are looking for simple wooden caskets which were described in historical documents as the type used for burying massacre victims. The exhumed remains will be sent for DNA and genealogical testing in an effort to identify them.
The search marks the fourth such effort since Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum launched the project in 2018, with a total of 47 remains now exhumed. Bynum hopes to see the search for victims continue even after he leaves office. Investigators, led by state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck, are mapping the graves to determine if further searches are needed.
Descendant of massacre survivors and committee member overseeing the search, Brenda Nails-Alford, expressed gratitude for the efforts to find the victims’ remains. Bynum and City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper have also announced a new committee to study possible reparations for survivors and descendants of the massacre and the area of north Tulsa where it occurred. The massacre, which took place over two days in 1921, was a violent episode that resulted in the destruction of Black Wall Street, with as many as 300 Black people killed, and thousands of Black residents forced into internment camps.
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