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1921 Mass Graves Committee to Hear Archaeological Investigation Results

Matt Trotter
/
KWGS

Archaeologists report their findings tonight to the committee charged with overseeing a search for mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. 

Searches were conducted at Oaklawn Cemetery and Newblock Park.

"I think the first step is to try to figure out if anything is going to be excavated, also whether or not there are going to be victims or not. I mean, there's going to be people who have nothing to do with the massacre buried," said Scott Hammerstedt with the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey in October.

Researchers used ground-penetrating radar in their work. While the technology is advanced, it won’t find evidence in some cases.

"If it's a very ephemeral grave, if it's somebody who's just wrapped in a cloth or in a generic pine box, in 100 years, given the soil conditions, there might just not be anything left to find," Hammerstedt said.

Mayor G.T. Bynum said the citizen committee will recommend how to proceed after tonight's presentation.

"The city government, by waiting 98 years to start looking for these graves, has not earned community trust on this issue. And so, we want to have citizens providing oversight every step of the way," Bynum said.

The 1921 Graves Public Oversight Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. at Carver Middle School, 624 E Oklahoma Place. The meeting will be in the Tyrone E. Wilkerson Theater.

The committee will decide in February how to proceed in the search.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.