Exhumations will resume; effort to identify victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre

Starting on Wednesday, some of the 19 bodies removed from a Tulsa cemetery and later reburied, which may contain the remains of those who perished in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, will be exhumed once again in an effort to collect additional DNA for potential identification.

A second dig for more remains will be conducted after the most recent exhumation of corpses, some of which were removed from Oaklawn Cemetery in northeastern Oklahoma City last year.

According to municipal spokeswoman Michelle Brooks, “there were 14 of the 19 (corpses) that meet the threshold for additional DNA analysis.” “These will be re-exhumed,” the person said.

Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City, Utah, received the 14 sets of remains in an effort to identify them. Two sets, according to Brooks, have enough DNA to start the sequencing process.

How many of the 14 will be dug up again isn’t yet known, according to Brooks.

The bodies will be reburied in Oaklawn, the site of the first reburial, which sparked objections from around two dozen persons who claimed to be massacre victims’ relatives and who felt that they should have been permitted to attend the service, which was private.

In order to aid researchers when they start looking for suspected victims’ remains, Intermountain Forensics is looking for persons who think they are the descendants of massacre victims.

Following the exhumations, a further search for corpses will be conducted in a region to the south and west of the locations that were previously dug up in 2020 and 2021.

None of the bodies discovered so far have been positively identified as victims of the atrocity that left more than 1,000 homes in flames, hundreds of residences robbed, and a vibrant commercial area called Black Wall Street devastated.

The number of fatalities is estimated by historians who have investigated the incident to be between 75 and 300.

Victims were never given compensation, but the three remaining known survivors of the atrocity are currently the target of a lawsuit seeking restitution.

By November 18, the most recent search should be over.

Miniechat

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