Since a 2020 dig at the site of a rumored mass grave on the cemetery grounds proved fruitless, researchers have focused their efforts on finding the final resting places of 18 Black men known to have been killed in the massacre and buried in Oaklawn.
Since a 2020 dig at the site of a rumored mass grave on the cemetery grounds proved fruitless, researchers have focused their efforts on finding the final resting places of 18 Black men known to have been killed in the massacre and buried in Oaklawn.
Forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield discovered the wound in the remains of what is believed to have been adult male. What was described as a bullet core was extracted.
Two sets of adult remains were exhumed and taken to an on-site lab for analysis Thursday as the search in Oaklawn Cemetery for unmarked burials linked to Tulsa's 1921 Race Massacre continued.
A day after the discovery of four unmarked burials brought the number within the past week to 21, three child-size burials were unearthed in the city's search for potential victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre at Oaklawn Cemetery.
It's too early to know whether the 17 coffins discovered Friday and Saturday hold the remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, according to officials.
A news release said "Oaklawn" shows how bureaucracy kept descendants and members of Tulsa’s Black community in the dark about events surrounding the investigation.
Officials hope to find potential unidentified victims south and west of the former search area at Oaklawn Cemetery, with the second excavation expected to be complete by Nov. 18.
"We are already making preparations," said forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield. "We don't have a date, but we hope to be there this fall."
Over the past two years, research teams hired by the city have excavated two sites near the southwest boundary of Oaklawn Cemetery.
That set, of a Black male, bore the marks of multiple bullet wounds. The remains were found among a row of children's graves, but buried much deeper, said state Archeologist Kary Stackelbeck.
No matter the outcome, the effort is a worthy and important use of public funding and time. It is never too late to seek justice. The search for truth in history is valid and necessary, no matter where it leads, the editorial states.
Researchers aren't certain whether the burials are connected, but it would boost the number of confirmed dead from the May 31-June 1, 1921, massacre by at least nine.
Researchers returned to Oaklawn Cemetery to begin the exhumation of potential graves indentified in October.
Revisit the history of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Complete coverage here
The city also announced that exhumation of unmarked burials at Oaklawn Cemetery could take months to complete because of the size of the gravesite and the possible number of burials.
Revisit the history of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Complete coverage here
The city also announced that exhumation of unmarked burials at Oaklawn Cemetery could take months to complete because of the size of the grave site and the possible number of burials.
Revisit the history of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Complete coverage here
Joshua Dean, whose address is listed in Tulsa County jail records as Magazine, Arkansas, knocked over 97 gravestones March 3 "with the deliberate and malicious and wrongful intent to injure property" owned by the city of Tulsa, prosecutors allege in the charge.
Police reported about 97 gravestones sustained damage.
The oversight committee, however, must consider a temporary gravesite while long-term planning moves forward.
Brenda Alford chairs the citizens committee overseeing the search. "A lot of the reason I do this is in the memory of family members and community members I grew up knowing as a kid," she says.
The discovery of the mass grave does not answer all of history's questions. Indeed, it raises as many issues as it resolves. The greatest message of this week's discoveries should be this: As a community, we must push on in a relentless pursuit of truth, wherever it may lead.
State Archeologist Kary Stackelbeck said the team has identified a subsurface anomaly about three times larger than the trench dug Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving open the possibility that more remains could be found.
11th coffin found at Oaklawn Researchers close site and seek authority to exhume remains RANDY KREHBIEL Tulsa World An 11th coffin has been fo…
The remains of a single person were found intact in a casket in a section of the cemetery researchers believe may contain the bodies of 18 Black men who were killed in the violence of May 31-June 1, 1921.
The examination of an area near the west end of Oaklawn Cemetery, 1133 E. 11th St., will begin on Oct. 19.
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