TEN bodies are found in unmarked mass grave where investigators are searching for remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre - when a white mob attacked city's 'Black Wall Street' and killed 300 black people
At least ten bodies have been found in an unmarked mass grave at an Oklahoma cemetery where investigators are searching for remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
The discovery marks the third day of the search operation at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, where funeral home records show massacre victims are buried.
Ten coffins were discovered on Wednesday with what is presumed to be one person in each coffin, Oklahoma state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said. She said further examination is needed.
Investigators are three days into a search operation for the remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Researchers look through dirt from a trench as crews work on a second test excavation and core sampling in the search for remains at Oaklawn Cemetery on Wednesday
Oklahoma state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said at least 10 bodies were found during Wednesday's search
'What we were finding was an indication that we were inside a large area ... a large hole that had been excavated and into which several individuals had been placed and buried in that location. This constitutes a mass grave,' said Stackelbeck.
The massacre left an estimated 300 mostly Black Tulsa residents dead and 800 more wounded.
The massacre - which happened two years after what is known as the 'Red Summer,' when hundreds of African Americans died at the hands of white mobs in violence around the US - has been depicted in recent HBO shows 'Watchmen' and 'Lovecraft County.'
Forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield, a descendant of a survivor of the massacre who is assisting in the search, said it would take considerable time to identify the remains and determine whether they were victims of the massacre.
The search began Monday and is the second this year after an unsuccessful search in another area of the cemetery ended in July.
On Monday, one set of human remains were found a little more than three feet underground in the area, known as the 'Original 18'.
It is not yet known if the remains, which were found in a wooden coffin, are of a victim of the massacre.
Researchers look through dirt and items dug out in the search for remains from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was confirmed on Tuesday that at least one set of human remains were found on the site but have not been identified
Workers hold up tarps to block spectators' views during a second test excavation and core sampling in the search for remains at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Tuesday
For two days starting on May 31, 1921, a white mob estimated to be 10,000-strong destroyed Tulsa's Black Greenwood district, known as Black Wall Street, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 300 people. The city is now searching for the victims' remains
In this 1921 image provided by the Library of Congress, smoke billows over Tulsa, Oklahoma. The killing of hundreds of people in a prosperous black business district in 1921 was referred to as the Tulsa race riot but it has since been relabeled as a 'massacre'
'We are still in the process of analyzing those remains to the best of our ability. ... We don't have a whole lot of details,' Stackelbeck said Monday.
'We are still analyzing what has come out of the ground at this point in time and so no, unfortunately we have not been able to assess the trauma at this point in time, or potential trauma,' that would indicate the person was among the massacre victims.
After an examination of the remains, they will be returned to the coffin and reburied, Stackelbeck said.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said efforts will be made to find any descendants of the victims who are identified.
He first proposed looking for victims of the violence in 2018 and later budgeted $100,000 to fund it after previous searches failed.
Oaklawn Cemetery in north Tulsa, where a search for remains of victims ended without success in July and where the excavation resumed Monday, is near the Greenwood District where the massacre took place.
Another search will be carried out there.
Oklahoma state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck confirmed Tuesday that remains had been found in the 'Original 18' in Oaklawn Cemetery but it is not known if they are victim remains
Researchers look at items pulled from the ground during a second test excavation and core sampling in the search for remains at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa on Tuesday
It was confirmed that remains were found Tuesday. Pictured, researchers on the site
Rev. Robert Turner, with Vernon A.M.E Church, prays as the search continued Tuesday
The earlier excavation in the area identified by ground-penetrating radar scans what appeared to be a human-dug pit indicative of a mass grave.
It turned out be a filled-in creek, said Mayor Bynum.
Old funeral home records indicate up to 18 black people who were massacre victims were buried in the spot known as 'Original 198' where remains were found Tuesday.
The other site is where a man named Clyde Eddy said in the 1990s that, as a 10-year-old boy, he saw black bodies being prepared for burial shortly after the massacre, but was told to leave the area.
Stackelbeck has said two other places have been identified as potential burial sites.
'We have multiple areas that we have identified as having merits for investigation,' based on the 2019 radar scans, Stackelbeck said. 'We just have to ask for grace and patience' during the search.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum speaking about the search for victims in July
The Black Wall Street Massacre happened in 1921 and was one of the worst race riots in the history of the United States where more than 35 square blocks of a predominantly black neighborhood were destroyed in two days of rioting leaving between 150-300 people dead
Mt. Zion Baptist Church burns after being torched by white mobs during the 1921 Tulsa massacre. The number that died in the massacre has never been confirmed
If there are unmarked graves, the investigative team will then determine their nature to see if the bodies are consistent with the violence from the massacre or if they appear to be the remains of people who died from natural causes.
Bodies, if discovered, will not be disturbed, Bynum said. The excavation would stop, and investigators would 'do what they need to do to identify them and determine a cause of death.'
The Tulsa Race Massacre was one of the worst race riots in the history of the United States where more than 35 square blocks of a predominantly black neighborhood were destroyed.
The violence took place on May 31 and June 1 in 1921, when a white mob attacked Tulsa's Black Wall Street, killing an estimated 300, mostly black, people and wounding 800 more while robbing and burning businesses, homes and churches.
It began after a black man allegedly assaulted a white woman in an elevator. The number of deaths was never confirmed and varies from about three dozen to 300.
An African-American man with a camera looking at the skeletons of iron beds which rise above the ashes of a burned-out block after the Tulsa Massacre in 1921
People searching through rubble after the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921
The massacre - which happened two years after what is known as the 'Red Summer,' when hundreds of African Americans died at the hands of white mobs in violence around the U.S. - has been depicted in recent HBO shows 'Watchmen' and 'Lovecraft County.'
It also received renewed attention after President Donald Trump selected Tulsa as the location for a June rally amid a national reckoning over police brutality and racial violence.
Trump moved the date to avoid coinciding with a Juneteenth celebration in the Greenwood District commemorating the end of slavery.
Bynum, who is 43, said he didn't learn of the massacre until about 20 years ago during the mayoral campaign of his uncle Bill LaFortune, and his grandparents confirmed the events.
'That's a very common thing in Tulsa. That's how you learned about it, not through books or the media or in school,' Bynum said. 'People didn't start talking about this event in Tulsa until about 20 years ago.'
THE 1921 TULSA RACE RIOT: AN ATTACK ON GREENWOOD
After World War I, Tulsa was recognized for its affluent African-American community known as the Greenwood District.
The community was often referred to as the 'Black Wall Street' because of its thriving businesses and residential area, but in June 1921, the community was nearly destroyed during the Tulsa Race Riot.
The events leading up to the riot began on May 30, 1921, when a young black man named Dick Rowland was riding in the elevator with a woman named Sarah Page.
The details of what followed vary from person to person and it's unclear what actually happened, but Rowland was arrested the next day by Tulsa police, with reports suggesting Rowland assaulted Page.
During the Tulsa Riot, 35 city blocks were completely destroyed and more than 800 people were treated for injuries. Historians believe as many as 300 people may have died in the riot
Subsequently, a report in the Tulsa Tribune dated May 31, 1921 was published that night with an accompanying editorial stating that a lynching was planned for that night.
This started a confrontation between black and white armed men at the courthouse, with the white men demanding that Rowland be lynched while the black men tried to protect him.
During a struggle between two men in the mobs over a gun, shots were fired and a white man was shot, causing the the African-American group to retreat to the Greenwood District.
In the early morning hours of June 1, 1921, Greenwood was looted and burned by an estimated 10,000 white rioters, who flooded into the streets shooting residents. Planes also reportedly dropped incendiary bombs on the area.
Many of the white mob had recently returned from World War I and trained in the use of firearms, are are said to have shot Black Americans on sight.
Pictured: Part of Greenwood District burning during the Race Riots, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, June 1921. More than 1,400 homes and businesses were destroyed. The picture caption above says 'Burning of Church Where Ammunition was Stored-During Tulsa Race Riot-6-1-21'
In addition, more than 1,400 homes and businesses were destroyed, and nearly 10,000 people were left homeless.
The riots lasted for two days, and Governor Robertson declared martial law, and National Guard troops were called in to Tulsa.
During the riot, 35 city blocks were completely destroyed. Historians believe as many as 300 people may have died in the riot - mostly Black Americans -and more than 800 people were treated for injuries.
Bodies were buried in mass graves while families of those who were killed in the riots were held in prison under martial law according to Scott Ellsworth, a University of Michigan historian, in December.
The families of the deceased were never told whether their loved ones died in the massacre, or where they were buried, and no funerals were held.
Until the 1990s, the massacre was rarely mentioned in history books, and in 2001, the Race Riot Commission was organized to review the details of the deadly riot.
Source: Tulsa History.org