Memorial Service Held At Oaklawn Cemetery To Honor Victims Of Tulsa Race Massacre

The City of Tulsa hosted a memorial service at Oaklawn Cemetery Tuesday, to honor the people exhumed there during the investigation of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

A corner of the cemetery reserved for paupers was explored, with some remains exhumed for further investigation and others left in place if they were not considered potential victims.

A large marker was placed at Oaklawn, and individual headstones are being installed at the re-internment sites for those who were exhumed.

The marker reads in part “May the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre find rest. May we remember and honor this place, Oaklawn Cemetery, as hallowed ground. May we continue to heal from the historical racial trauma of our shared past that this site evokes.”

Several family members of Private C.L. Daniel were at the service and received a burial flag recognizing his service during World War I.

Daniel was identified through DNA analysis of remains found in an unmarked grave.

He is believed to have been passing through Tulsa when he was murdered during the massacre.

“And there are so many more people just like that that we continue to try to identify, families just like his, that we hope the City of Tulsa is going to be able to make that same call and say we found your ancestor,” said Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum.

The private service for members of the research team, city officials and a handful of descendants featured a eulogy by Hannibal Johnson, a leading historian and educator of the period. 

A small group of people watched the service from the Midland Valley Trail, including former City Councilor Jack Henderson, who along with then Councilor Bynum, pushed for the investigation and promised each other if one was ever elected Mayor, they would ensure it happened.

In 2018, Bynum, as Mayor, restarted the process that has become a hallmark of his soon-to-be-ending administration.

Mayor-Elect Monroe Nichols has pledged to continue the investigation.