City Of Tulsa To Begin 3rd Excavation Of Oaklawn Cemetery For 1921 Graves Investigation

The city's plans for the third excavation at Oaklawn Cemetery in part of the 1921 Graves Investigation will be announced Tuesday morning.

The City of Tulsa and the investigation team are holding a news conference at City Hall at 9 a.m. to make the announcement during a news conference.

Mayor G.T. and members of the 1921 Graves Physical Investigation Team will be in attendance.

"It requires persistence," said Mayor G.T. Bynum. "My commitment on behalf of the citizens of Tulsa is to follow this investigation wherever it leads us."

Back in July, the City conducted a test excavation at Oaklawn Cemetery, where the team tested the eastern area of the original excavation site to identify a "geophysical anomaly" found in Spring 2023.

"This is important work. This has taken a long time to get this uncovered. And I'm glad that they're moving forward and that they're actually doing something finally,” said Jeanell Lieurance, who traveled from Kansas City to watch the July excavation.

"I grew up in southeast Kansas and we never heard about this. But I don't even think our teachers knew about it,” she said.

The City says the goals for the upcoming excavation include reopening and expanding the test excavation block, exposing additional area to the west and north, documenting makeshift markers that were found during the test, exposing burials in the area and documenting them in a consistent manner, exhume those individuals who fit selective criteria or otherwise appear to be potential candidates as Massacre victims. Any remains removed will be sent to Intermountain Forensics for DNA and genealogical analysis.

Excavations at Oaklawn Cemetery began in June 2021, where 20 remains were exhumed from the Section 20 area. In Fall 2021, the second excavation took place, yielding 32 more exposed burials.

The City says in total, 22 remains were sent to Intermountain Forensics from these excavations.

In April of 2023, the City released six surnames and locations of interest of those identified by Intermountain Forensics.

To learn more about the Tulsa Race Massacre, CLICK HERE.