Mass Graves Investigation Moves Forward With DNA Analysis, Plans For Another Search At Oaklawn

Scientists investigating the mass grave found at Oaklawn Cemetery said DNA analysis is the next step in finding out whether the remains are connected to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. They said it is still too soon to say for sure and are asking for the public's help.

The city announced on March 1 that it hired a DNA analysis company out of Utah for the work. DNA from 14 individuals is already on the way to Utah right now. The city did not say when it was sent or how it is getting there.

That non-profit company, Utah Cold Case Coalition Intermountain Forensics, said it is honored to do the work and expects it to take several months.

The city is asking anyone who may have relatives from the 1921 massacre to reach out to the company. The city said those who want to get involved who may have family ties to the massacre should email info@intermountainforensics.com and enter the subject line “1921 Graves.”

Also discussed in the meeting were recommendations for next steps going forward. Archeologists are recommending going back to Oaklawn to do more excavation work.

They also want to go back to Newblock Park and the Canes area, which is a homeless encampment just west of downtown along the Arkansas River.

The third recommendation that was made is encouraging community engagement for family to get involved in the DNA analysis process.

Several members of the public oversight committee expressed concerns about not investigating every single individual that was found at Oaklawn. Of the 35 individuals scientists found last summer, 20 were removed from the ground and archeologists said 19 were preserved well enough to study.

“How can you walk away from this and say, ‘I did everything that I could do to find those massacre victims,' if we left coffins there that, just because they were not marked,” activist Kristi Williams said. “We can’t do that. I can’t do that. After carrying, escorting those bodies out of that grave this summer, I cannot walk away from that to say that I did everything I could do. Because I didn’t, if I did not challenge and push you all to look at those coffins that are unmarked.”

Anthropologist Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield encouraged the committee members to talk to each other and formulate a plan to go forward.

“If you as a community say, ‘Exhume every casket, and resources, our permissions to exhume allow that, we’ll be doing something like that,” she said. “But keep in mind that going forward like that requires disturbing people who aren’t our target.”

She pointed out that there are many children buried at Oaklawn.

“We do not need to keep digging up people’s children,” she said.

"I do want to reiterate for those of you out there, that based on the June 2021 excavations we recovered one black male with evidence of multiple gunshot wounds who was buried in a plain casket. There is a strong likelihood that when we return, we will recover the others like him that we have in our documentation, our documented history. We have gone further than ever in revealing this history,” Dr. Stubblefield said.

The full, final report released is more than 1,000 pages long and shows what scientists found underground last summer. Things like an old safety pin, a fork, a bullet, and a 1923 one dollar silver certificate.

Silver certificates were issued by the U.S. government between 1878 and 1964 and allowed people to trade them in for silver coins.

The version of the final report the city released does have some information redacted. The city said it is because it is considered sensitive content, showing human remains.

The city also gave an update on the budget for this work, saying of the roughly $800,000 total set aside in the city's budget for the past three fiscal years, there is about $200,000 left to spend.

The city is working on its next fiscal year budget and does anticipate that number will change later this year.