Tulsa race massacre: Search continues for mass grave site from 1921

Nearly 100 years after white mobs terrorised black residents in the Oklahoma city, crews resume excavation following coronavirus delays

Archaeologists and dig crews have resumed the excavation of a suspected mass grave in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of one of the bloodiest episodes of racist violence in the US.

A white mob terrorised hundreds of black Americans during a nearly two-day massacre on 31 May 1921. Armed white men, backed by Oklahoma officials and law enforcement, shot at black residents, bombed buildings and set them ablaze, destroying 35 blocks of homes, businesses, churches and schools in the city's prosperous Greenwood neighbourhood, known as Black Wall Street.

Scores of families were left homeless, and at least 300 people were killed.

After a radar revealed a "large anomaly consistent with a mass grave" near Oaklawn Cemetery, the city agreed to launch the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Graves Inspection with the University of Oklahoma in March to find the remains of black residents killed in the event and determine the scale of the massacre that resonates nearly 100 years later.

However the coronavirus pandemic forced the city to suspend the archaeological survey. It resumed on 13 July, and the full excavation began on Tuesday.

The test project is part of a feasibility study to determine whether human remains are on the site and how to proceed with a larger investigation. It's expected to take up to six days.

"As a city, we are committed to exploring what happened in 1921 through a collective and transparent process – filling gaps in our city's history and providing healing and justice to our community," Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum said in a statement.

Archaeologists on Tuesday said they've discovered some artefacts consistent with the early 1900s, including parts of a boot and pearl buttons, but the crew has not yet discovered human remains.

Human rights groups have argued for reparations to families and Tulsa residents through significant public investments, following government inaction in the wake of the massacre and its failure to rebuild a once-thriving community.

Mayor Bynum has argued that city leaders and business groups engaged in a cover-up effort, to obscure the scale of violence that robbed generations of residents of their wealth and family history.

World news in pictures

•  
•  
•  
• 50 show all

World news in pictures

•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  

• 1/50 14 July 2020 

  Second Republican infantry guard regiment take part in the annual Bastille Day military ceremony on the Place de la Concorde in Paris

  AFP via Getty

• 2/50 13 July 2020 

  A man walks his dog through thick sea foam blowing ashore during a storm in Seapoint, Cape Town, South Africa

  EPA

• 3/50 12 July 2020 

  Security forces on the outskirts of Amritsar take part in Van Mahotsav, an annual tree-planting festival in India

  AFP via Getty 

• 4/50 11 July 2020 

  People covered with coloured powder enjoy music during the Holi festival in Minsk, Belarus

  EPA

• 5/50 10 July 2020 

  A demonstrator during clashes following the funeral of 29-year-old Palestinian Ibrahim Abou Yacoub, who was killed by Israeli forces, in the village of Kifl Hares, south of the West Bank city of Nablus

  AFP via Getty

• 6/50 9 July 2020 

  The sun rises in Timmendorfer Strand, northern Germany

  AP

• 7/50 8 July 2020 

  Portraits of healthcare workers are pasted on the Opera Bastille, designed by Anne-Christine Poujoulat, to pay tribute to caregivers during the Covid-19 pandemic in Paris

  Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty

• 8/50 7 July 2020 

  Tengger tribe people make their way to the summit of Mount Bromo volcano to make offerings in Probolinggo, as part of the Yadnya Kasada Festival. The Tenggerese climb the active volcano to seek the blessing from the main deity by presenting offerings of rice, fruit, livestock and other items

  AFP via Getty

• 9/50 6 July 2020 

  A healthcare worker checks the temperature of residents during a check-up campaign in Mumbai, India

  Reuters

• 10/50 5 July 2020 

  People wearing protective face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus sit at a bus stop in the city of Zanjan, Iran

  AP

• 11/50 4 July 2020 

  Protesters blocking an exit to the precinct of the officers who arrested Elijah McClain, cover their ears anticipating the use of flash-bang grenades by police in Aurora, Colorado

  Reuters

• 12/50 3 July 2020 

  A member of the Israeli border police jumps during a Palestinian protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank, in Kafr Qaddum near Nablus

  Reuters

• 13/50 2 July 2020 

  A surfer jumps clear of his board while enjoying winter waves at New Brighton Beach in Christchurch, New Zealand

  AP

• 14/50 1 July 2020 

  A man is detained by riot police during a demonstration in Hong Kong. China imposed a new national security law which has faced international condemnation

  Getty

• 15/50 30 June 2020 

  A man smokes a pipe while wearing a face mask during a demonstration in Nantes, as part of a nationwide day of protests to demand better working conditions for health workers in France

  AFP via Getty

• 16/50 29 June 2020 

  Lawmakers from Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party scuffle with people from the main opposition Kuomintang party, who have been occupying the Legislature Yuan, in Taipei

  Reuters

• 17/50 28 June 2020 

  Protester holds crosses during a demonstration in honour of the victims of coronavirus in front of Brazil's National Congress

  Getty

• 18/50 27 June 2020 

  A demonstrator wearing a face mask holds a sign during a protest against police brutality and racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, at the Victory column in Berlin

  Reuters

• 19/50 26 June 2020 

  Hygienists inside a decontamination area in a coronavirus treatment centre that cares for positive patients that show little or no symptoms in Dakar

  AFP via Getty

• 20/50 25 June 2020 

  A seagull snatches a croissant from a buffet during a press conference at the headquarters of AP Moeller - Maersk in Copenhagen, Denmark

  Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty

• 21/50 24 June 2020 

  A volunteer receives an injection from a medical worker during the country's first human clinical trial for a potential vaccine against coronavirus, at the Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, South Africa

  Reuters

• 22/50 23 June 2020 

  Swiss acrobat Ramon Kathriner performs during the "Glacier 3000" Air show, an event marking the reopening of the Alpine facilities above Les Diablerets

  AFP via Getty

• 23/50 22 June 2020 

  A worker cleans volcanic ash off the stupas at the Borobudur temple in Indonesia, a day after Mount Merapi erupted in nearby Sleman, sending a plume of ash into the sky

  AFP via Getty

• 24/50 21 June 2020 

  Aerial view of a burial at the Vila Formosa cemetery during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 21, 2020. - The novel coronavirus has killed at least 464,423 people worldwide since the outbreak began in China last December, being Brazil Latin America's worsthit country with 49,976 deaths from 1,067,579 cases. 

  AFP via Getty

• 25/50 20 June 2020 

  National Guards form a line in front of "Black Lives Matter" protestors in Tulsa, Oklahoma where Donald Trump was holding a campaign rally

  AFP via Getty

• 26/50 19 June 2020 

  Nurses, doctors, midwives and health care workers attend the fourth Zumba dance session organised by the Nursing Council of Kenya at Kenyatta stadium where screening booths and an isolation field hospital have been installed. The dance sessions have been organised to re-energise and uplift health care providers sprits during this pandemic

  AFP via Getty

• 27/50 18 June 2020 

  Alpha jets from the French Air Force Patrouille de France and the Royal Air Force Red Arrows perform a flypast over the statue of Charles de Gaulle on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris to celebrate the 80th anniversary of wartime leader's appeal to the French people to resist the Nazi occupation, broadcast from London

  Reuters

• 28/50 17 June 2020 

  Activists from the Extinction Rebellion movement block a street outside the German Automobile industry association during a protest in Berlin

  AFP via Getty

• 29/50 16 June 2020 

  Barbers wearing protective suits and face masks inside a salon in Dhaka, Bangladesh

  Reuters

• 30/50 15 June 2020 

  Siegfried White raises his hand as he protests outside a burned Wendy's restaurant on the third day following Rayshard Brooks death. The black man was shot by police in the car park in Atlanta. The mayor ordered immediate police reforms on Monday after the fatal shooting by a white officer

  AFP via Getty

• 31/50 14 June 2020 

  People take part in a Black Lives Matter protest march in central Tokyo

  AFP via Getty

• 32/50 13 June 2020 

  Protesters raise their fists during a demonstration against police brutality and racism in Paris, France. The march was organised by supporters of Assa Traore, whose brother Adama died in police custody in 2016, in circumstances that remain unclear

  EPA

• 33/50 12 June 2020 

  A pro-democracy supporter shouts at riot police during an anti-national security law rally in Mongkok district in Hong Kong, China. Protesters heeded online calls to gather as the city marks the one-year anniversary of the major clashes between police and pro-democracy demonstrators over the controversial extradition bill

  Getty

• 34/50 11 June 2020 

  A section of the River Spree next to the Reichstag building coloured green by activists from "Extinction Rebellion" to protest the German government's coal policies in Berlin

  AFP via Getty

• 35/50 10 June 2020 

  A woman poses in front of a decapitated statue of Christopher Columbus at Christopher Columbus Park in Boston Massachusetts. The statue's head, damaged overnight, was recovered by the Boston Police Department, as a movement to remove statues commemorating slavers and colonisers continues to sweep across the US

  AFP via Getty

• 36/50 9 June 2020 

  Ivy McGregor, left, reads a resolution during the funeral for George Floyd at The Fountain of Praise church in Houston. George Floyd is being laid to rest in his hometown, the culmination of a long farewell to the 46-year-old African American whose death in custody ignited global protests against police brutality and racism

  AFP via Getty

• 37/50 8 June 2020 

  People raise their fist and stand on their knees as they demonstrate in Nantes, during a Black Lives Matter protest

  AFP via Getty

• 38/50 7 June 2020 

  A woman looks on during a protest against the killing of George Floyd in Osaka city, western Japan

  EPA

• 39/50 6 June 2020 

  Demonstrator raise their fists at the Lincoln Memorial during a protest against police brutality and racism in Washington, DC. Demonstrations are being held across the US following the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, while being arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota

  AFP via Getty

• 40/50 5 June 2020 

  A handout photo made available by 2020 Planet Labs shows an aerial view of the large diesel spill in the Ambarnaya River outside Norilsk in the Arctic. Russia has managed to contain a massive diesel spill into a river in the Arctic, a spokeswoman for the emergencies ministry told AFP. Environmentalists said the oil spill, which took place last May 29, was the worst such accident ever in the Arctic region

  Planet Labs Inc./AFP via Getty 

• 41/50 4 June 2020 

  Activists hold a candlelit remembrance outside Victoria Park in Hong Kong, after the annual vigil, that traditionally takes place in the park to mark the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, was banned on public health grounds because coronavirus

  AFP via Getty

• 42/50 3 June 2020 

  A visitor walks in Odaiba as the sun sets in Tokyo

  AP

• 43/50 2 June 2020 

  Activists of the Socialist Unity Centre of India shout slogans in Ahmedabad in solidarity with protests against the recent killing of George Floyd

  AP

• 44/50 1 June 2020 

  Activists take part in a Black Lives Matter protest in Zurich after the recent death of George Floyd

  EPA

• 45/50 31 May 2020 

  A black man and a white woman hold their hands up in front of police officers in downtown Long Beach during a protest against the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while being arrested and pinned to the ground by the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Protests sweeping the United States over the death of George Floyd reverberated on the other side of the globe when thousands marched in solidarity on the streets of New Zealand

  AFP via Getty

• 46/50 30 May 2020 

  Police officers are seen amid tear gas as protesters continue to rally against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minnesota

  Reuters

• 47/50 29 May 2020 

  A boy holds a sign as refugees protest outside the UNHCR offices against a government decision that they should leave their accommodation provided through European Union and UNHCR funds by the end of May, in Athens, Greece

  Reuters

• 48/50 28 May 2020 

  Cloud iridescence, an optical phenomenon where light is diffracted through water droplets, is pictured at the edge of some clouds before a summer thunderstorm over Bangkok

  AFP via Getty

• 49/50 27 May 2020 

  Riot police try to control pro-democracy supporters at a rally in Causeway Bay district, Hong Kong

  Getty

• 50/50 26 May 2020 

  Protesters and police face each other during a rally after a black man died in police custody hours after a bystander's video showed an officer kneeling on the handcuffed man's neck, even after he pleaded that he could not breathe and had stopped moving

  Star Tribune via AP

 

 

On Monday, state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck reported that the site was "much deeper" than the team had expected.

Investigations into a suspected mass grave site were first performed in the late 1990s, though the results determined the claims were unsubstantiated.

But Mayor Bynum ordered that investigations reopen following a 2018 Washington Post report detailing the massacre's unresolved histories and unanswered questions from the families of victims, including survivors who reported seeing bodies placed in mass graves.

In December, forensic archaeologists discovered "anomalies" in the grave site, prompting a physical excavation project.

Tulsa recently recognised the 99th anniversary of the massacre, which played a central role in the acclaimed HBO series Watchmen, bringing renewed attention to an often-neglected stain on US history amid the turmoil and violence of post-Reconstruction America and a Jim Crow era marked by lynchings, the beginnings of mass incarceration and targeted policing of black Americans.

This year, the Oklahoma Department of Education is expected to incorporate the massacre's history into its curriculums for the first time.

The investigation relaunch follows Donald Trump's re-election campaign kickoff in Tulsa. The president's event was initially scheduled for Juneteenth but moved to the following day after outrage from black residents who feared that the president was exploiting the holiday celebrating the end of enslavement for a rally glorifying white nationalism.

"A day set aside to commemorate the freedom of enslaved people must not be marred by the words or actions of a racist president," Oklahoma's black Democratic Party chairwoman Alicia Andrews said in a 11 June statement before the campaign moved the rally date.

"This is a slap in the face to every black Oklahoman, every black American ... It's worse than pandering to his base. It has the potential of galvanizing racists in Oklahoma and the nation to further denigrate a group of people who built the very house in which the president lives."