Scientists have found a mass grave in Tulsa that may be the result of a 1921 racial massacre
TULSA - Researchers announced Wednesday that they have discovered a mass grave in a city cemetery located a few blocks from the site of a 1921 racial massacre.
In discovering the human remains Tuesday, Cary Stakelbeck, an Oklahoma archaeologist, said scientists digging in the city-owned Oaklawn Cemetery were able to discern the outlines of at least 10 coffins containing several people.
"This is a mass grave," she said. But she cautioned that more work is needed to determine whether the bodies are victims of the Centennial Racial Massacre, one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history.
The scientists, who include archaeologists and forensic anthropologists, plan to further investigate the site, using hand excavation to "better delineate" the coffins.
Since city officials began a second excavation on Monday, researchers have found at least 11 bodies buried in an unmarked section of the cemetery.
"Whether they are linked to the same event or the same time period of burial, we are evaluating right now," Stakelbeck said. Scientists plan to analyze the remains in the area where they were found, looking for signs of burns, gunshots and trauma that could link them to the massacre.
"We're confident this is exactly the place we were looking for," she said.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum (R) called the finding an important moment in Tulsa's history. In 2018, Bynum ordered the city to search for potential mass graves after a Washington Post article detailed unresolved questions surrounding the massacre. Bynum told The Post at the time that the city needed to find out if mass graves existed as authorities prepared to mark the 100th anniversary of the massacre.
"While we were aware of the possibility of mass graves from this event, they could have been anywhere," Bynum said at a news conference Wednesday. "Using modern science, we were able to scan the locations that the survivors of the massacre indicated, "which led us to a narrower area. And that has led us to today where we can say we have found a mass grave."
Bynum added that more work needs to be done to identify the bodies. "To date, we know there is a mass grave in Oaklawn Cemetery where we know no one was buried," Bynum said. "That is where we are at in the investigation. The ultimate goal is to find out who these victims were and connect them to the families ... I think about those families who for 99 years didn't know where their loved ones were. Today we are one step closer to being able to let them know."
Oaklawn Cemetery is just a few blocks from Greenwood, an all-black community destroyed nearly 100 years ago by a white mob in a horrific rampage that historians believe killed as many as 300 black people and left 10,000 homeless.
Survivors reported that bodies were dumped in the Arkansas River or loaded onto trucks and trains, making it difficult to account for the dead. Other survivors described black people being placed in mass graves. Not a single white person was arrested in connection with the massacre. In the decades following the rampage, few people recounted what had happened.
In July, Tulsa made history by beginning the physical excavation of mass graves. Although the first search ended without finding human remains, the city decided to expand the search. The second excavation will find a site called "Original Site 18," where authorities believe the bodies of 18 black men were buried after the massacre.
Records show that in June 1921, a white-owned funeral home billed Tulsa County for the burial of "18 Negroes." Funeral home records and 1921 death certificates show that at least 18 identified and unidentified black victims of the massacre were buried in an unmarked grave in Oaklawn.
The mass grave discovered Wednesday was found in the Original 18 area, next to the headstones of Reuben Everett and Eddie Lockard, the only known marked graves of mass murder victims in the cemetery.
Scott Ellsworth, a member of the city's Physical Crimes Investigation Committee and a professor of African American and African studies at the University of Michigan, said: "We are looking for all black victims of the massacre. We don't know what or who we have yet."
Brenda Alford, whose ancestors suffered in the massacre and who serves on the Mass Graves Oversight Committee, said she hopes the progress made in the search "will bring a sense of justice and healing to our community."