Search for Race Massacre burials resumes Monday, reinvigorated after first victim ID'd

“We can’t say with absolute certainty, but we do have a degree of confidence that it is,” state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said following a press conference on July 12.

That confidence was boosted by the announcement, less than an hour earlier, that for the first time researchers had identified remains from the Black potters’ field section of the cemetery as almost certainly those of a Race Massacre victim.

DNA led to D.L. Daniel, a partially disabled World War I veteran; a search of the National Archives turned up a letter from 1937 stating Daniel died in the Tulsa massacre.

The work, scheduled to begin Monday and continue into at least next week, is expected to involve enlargement of previous excavations and possibly the exhumation or re-exhumation of remains in the vicinity of Daniel’s in the cemetery’s southwest corner.

An oak tree, believed to be no more than 30 years old, was removed from the target area last week to facilitate excavation.

The researchers say they’ve identified four sets of remains in the area that show indications of trauma. Two bear definite signs of gunshot wounds, a third possible indications of gunshot and a fourth indications of post-mortem burning.

Those clues alone, however, would not be enough to prove the remains of massacre victims. For that, researchers need family histories and DNA samples.

Speaking at the press conference, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum encouraged anyone who think they might have direct or collateral ancestors buried in Oaklawn’s Black potters’ field during the 1920s to come forward.

Identifying as many as the remains as possible, he said, should be a goal regardless of whether they are those of a massacre victim.

“Identifying Mr. Daniel’s remains has been, candidly, an emotionally powerful experience for every person on our team,” said Bynum, who initiated the current project almost six years ago. “It makes every challenging day of this search worth it.

“It’s also important in the larger context of this search,” he said. “(Daniel’s) remains were identified purely by the expertise of our team of experts and give us hope that remains found in similar circumstances could be those of other victims.

“This identification affirms the need to continue our search,” Bynum said.

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Video: Tulsa Race Massacre’s first identified victim from unmarked burials is a WWI veteran