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More than 50 Unmarked Graves Found in Tulsa Cemetery

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

TULSA, OKLAHOMA—KGOU reports that the third search for the remains of victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre at Oaklawn Cemetery has been completed. As many as 300 Black people are thought to have been killed when a white supremacist mob attacked Tulsa’s Greenwood District, which was also known as “Black Wall Street,” over a two-day period in 1921. Researchers have been focusing their efforts on finding a concealed mass burial site in the cemetery, as reported by a witness to the event. “We have uncovered and delineated and mapped in 59 additional graves, all but two of which were previously unmarked,” said state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck. In all, seven sets of remains were exhumed this year for DNA sampling and forensic analysis by research team member Phoebe Stubblefield. Researchers are now working to identify possible living family members of the victims. For more, go to "A Sight Which Can Never Be Forgotten: The Tulsa Race Riot."

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