Archeologists Begin More Excavation Work At Oaklawn Cemetery In Search For Massacre Victims

Archeologists are back at Oaklawn Cemetery, searching for victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre, after closing a mass grave last summer.

Scientists said, of the remains from 14 adults believed to meet the criteria for DNA analysis, only two actually meet the threshold.

The team working on the ground hopes an expanded search effort at Oaklawn Cemetery will lead to more human remains, and more DNA, as they remain persistent on searching for massacre victims.

Archeologists plan to remove some individuals who were found last summer, to get more DNA from them.

The search will extend further south, and west, than last summer.

“Oaklawn is the one site in the city where we have actual records and news reports, where we know that there are Race Massacre victims buried in Oaklawn Cemetery,” Mayor GT Bynum said.

While the work is being done in the cemetery, a Utah lab is preparing to take a closer look at two samples from remains at Oaklawn.

Danny Hellwig with Intermountain Forensics said people are submitting their DNA, family trees, and stories.

“Daily, we’re getting more stories, more submissions and more uploads to that database,” Hellwig said.

Kavin Ross leads the Public Oversight Committee.

“This is not a Black Tulsa issue. It’s not a white Tulsa issue. It’s not even Native American issue. It’s a Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States issue,” Ross said.

When excavation work wrapped up last summer, tensions flared as people protested, and the remains of those taken out of the ground, were reburied after samples were taken.

"You are just burying their bodies right back up. This is a crime,” Tulsa resident Celi Butler said last year.

Anthropologist Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield tried to assure the crowd the work is far from over. "We're not done. We have not stopped,” she said through the fence.

Wednesday, she reemphasized exactly what they're looking for. “But we are looking for, still, 18 individuals without headstones that are adult males, buried in plain caskets.”

The work is expected to last for about a month, wrapping up right before Thanksgiving.