The latest search for the remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oaklawn Cemetery has ended, with three more sets of remains containing gunshot wounds being discovered among the 11 sets exhumed. Phoebe Stubblefield, a forensic anthropologist, revealed that two victims were shot with two different weapons and one of them also showed signs of burning. The simple wooden caskets used to bury massacre victims at the time are being sought, and the remains will be sent for DNA and genealogical testing in an effort to identify them.
After identifying World War I veteran C.L. Daniel from previously exhumed remains, the search, initiated by Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum in 2018, has now exhumed a total of 47 remains. Bynum expressed his hope for the search to continue, regardless of the next mayor. Investigators are mapping the graves to determine if further searches are necessary based on new data that confirms the presence of massacre victims.
Descendant Brenda Nails-Alford expressed gratitude for Bynum’s efforts, hoping that the search will bring justice and healing to the families of the victims. In response to the massacre, a new committee has been formed to study potential reparations for survivors and descendants of the massacre in north Tulsa, where the violence occurred. The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was a long-suppressed act of racial violence that destroyed Black Wall Street, resulting in the deaths of as many as 300 Black people, with thousands forced into internment camps and over 1,200 homes and businesses destroyed.
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