*A team of archaeologists have discovered a mass grave in the cemetery where they have been searching for victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.
Here’s more from MSN:
The outlines of at least 10 coffins were found at the Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said she has a “high degree of confidence that this is one of the locations that we have been looking for.” But she said investigators are remaining cautious because they have not done anything to expose the human remains.
Since the excavation resumed Monday, archeologists had found one set of human remains and a possible second set.
It is not yet known if the remains belong to the victims of the massacre.
“We still have a lot of work to do to identify the nature of that mass grave and identify who is in it, but what we do know, as of today, is that there is a mass grave in Oaklawn Cemetery where we have no record of anyone being buried,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said Wednesday in a news conference.
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We previously reported… city officials launched an effort to find the victims’ remains in 2018. Geophysical scanning identified two spots at the Oaklawn Cemetery that might have bodies of those killed in the nation’s least talked about race riots that occurred almost 100 years ago.
Officials previously said that the next phase could include excavation and an investigation into causes of death, Washington Post reported.
“The cause of death determination would be an important step to the investigation,” city officials said in a statement, “as remains will be close to 100 years old and a Spanish Influenza outbreak occurred in Tulsa in 1919 prior to the Race Massacre in 1921.”
With the latest discovery of the mass grave, the city and oversight committee will now decide on next steps “as it relates to storing remains, DNA testing and genealogical research, and commemorating the grave sites and honoring the remains.”
“The only way to move forward in our work to bring about reconciliation in Tulsa is by seeking the truth honestly,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a statement to The Washington Post. “We knew opening this investigation 98 years later, there would be both unknowns and truths to uncover. But we are committed to exploring what happened in 1921 through this collective and transparent process filling gaps in our city’s history, and providing healing and justice to our community.”
As many as 300 people were killed in the massacre and as many as 300 people died after more than 1,000 homes were burned by white supremacists.
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