City officials believe there are still Tulsa Race Massacre victims’ remains to be found in Oaklawn Cemetery.
A team of archaeologists and forensic analysts commissioned by the city have found more than 50 unmarked graves in the cemetery, which was used as a mass burial ground for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
In July of last year, searchers identified the body of C.L. Daniel, a World War I veteran killed in the massacre when he stopped in Tulsa. His grave was first found in the search.
At a city council meeting Wednesday, city experience director James Wagner said there “could be another 28-30” graves in the southwest corner of Oaklawn Cemetery.
“That’s the last kind of portion that they haven’t been able to excavate,” said Wagner.
City officials say they need nearly $1.1 million dollars to work on Oaklawn Cemetery this year. Of that total, $995,075 has yet to be approved by city council. The costs are primarily to pay the archaeologists and analysts for their work.
Wagner said the team’s work could change after this year.
“Every year we do this, you learn something new. So, you know, it’s hard to say, because you don’t know what you don’t know until you do the excavation,” he said.
The city has also looked at The Canes near the Arkansas River and Newblock Park as possible sites for the remains of victims.
Wagner said the archaeological team “does not have a strong belief” that there are graves in these locations. But City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper argued witness statements — which she said allude to mass burials in other parts of town — were what led the city to start digging at Oaklawn.
“Historically, there were bodies in mass graves along the river,” said Hall-Harper. “These places are well-known, so I will take issue with saying, ‘Oh, once we’re finished with Oaklawn, we’re done.’ To me, that’s just another example of how we sweep history under the rug and not want to deal with this.”
Emmett Till grant, oversight committee discussed
The money that would need to be appropriated by city council is separate from a $1 million Emmett Till Cold Case grant. The federal government has given Tulsa the grant to support programs including genealogy workshops to help people research possible family ties to the Race Massacre.
“The (Emmett Till) funds have to be spent by this fall, or we don’t know if it will be able to be renewed,” Wagner said.
Hall-Harper expressed concern that the grant would not be renewed under the Trump administration.
Councilor Laura Bellis requested council discuss the Emmett Till grant at a later date. She also suggested they discuss the graves oversight committee, which was put in place to monitor the process.
Hall-Harper said the oversight committee was “basically just dissolved” under former mayor G.T. Bynum’s administration.
“I would like to have discussions about how we can re-establish that, because there’s a large segment of the community that’s concerned about that,” Hall-Harper said.
City spokesperson Michelle Brooks said the current mayoral administration "can't speak to the prior process or framework," but said Mayor Monroe Nichols is committed to the graves investigation.
