Researchers looking for mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre identified two areas of interest in a report presented Monday night to a citizen oversight committee.
One area is in the southwest corner of Oaklawn Cemetery just outside of downtown, where researchers' equipment indicates an abrupt, 26-foot by 33-foot anomaly that appears to have straight walls. Archaeologist Scott Hammerstedt with the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey said he can’t say he’s 100% sure there are graves there.
"But I'm as confident as I can be in the results that this is a very good candidate for something associated with the massacre," Hammerstedt said.
The other area of interest is on a bluff east of Newblock Park known as the Canes. Equipment indicated two roughly 7-foot by 10-foot areas the report says are consistent with large graves.
Forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield said searching the Canes could be complicated by the fact it’s currently used as a homeless camp.
"Now, in my experience with homeless camps, sometimes you bury people there — your friends — and you don't tell anyone," Stubblefield said.
No one knows how many black people were murdered in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and their families never knew what happened to them.
"The remains of these individuals were not viewed by the authorities — by the white authorities — as brothers and fathers and mothers and sisters, but rather as a health problem that had to be contained. And so, literally, these people were, for the most part, thrown away," said historian Scott Ellsworth.
Researchers agreed they wouldn't know more about the potential sites unless they're excavated. Stubblefield said before they move forward, they need a full plan for their work, including how to deal with remains that may turn out not to be from the race massacre.
Stubblefield also guessed there could be "tens of people" in the graves, though the exact number is unknowable until remains are uncovered.
The 1921 Mass Graves Committee is expected to have a plan for the second phase of the search in February.
