3rd set of remains with bullet wounds found with possible ties to 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

A third set of remains with bullet wounds was exhumed in the years-long search for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

On Friday, state officials from Tulsa, Oklahoma announced they found remains with bullet wounds at the Oaklawn Cemetery. The discovery is the latest as part of the city’s 1921 Graves Investigation, stated the City of Tulsa in a press release.

So far, all three bodies were found in adult-sized coffins and sent to an on-site osteology lab.

The body was found near the area of the Burial 3, the release said, or the "Original 18" area where 18 Black men who were victims of the massacre are believed to have been buried.

This is the fourth excavation started by the city of Tulsa. Since it began, 40 other graves that were not previously found were exposed.

When were the two victims discovered?

The discovery comes less than a month after Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum announced that the identity of the first body that was exhumed had confirmed ties to the massacre, states a different press release from the city.

The body was confirmed to belong to C. L. Daniel, a World War 1 U.S. Army Veteran, by using DNA from his next of kin.

Daniel was the first person to be discovered who was not listed in the Oklahoma Commission’s 2001 Report regarding the massacre.

What were the Tulsa Massacres?

On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob descended on Greenwood — the Black section of Tulsa — and burned, looted and destroyed more than 1,000 homes in the once-thriving business district known as Black Wall Street.

The massacre is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the country's history. And 103 years after it happened, Tulsa is making progress towards the revitalization of “Black Wall Street” and reckoning with the destruction of one of the most thriving communities in its heyday.

The city of Tulsa has implemented a master plan that “ensures the social and economic benefits of redevelopment are experienced by Black Tulsans, by descendants of the Race Massacre and by future generations and their heirs.”

1921 Graves Investigation

In 2018, the city started an investigation to "identify and connect people today with those who were lost more than 100 years." ago, according to the City's website.

Four sites were listed as potential areas where victims of the massacre would be located, states the city:

• Oaklawn Cemetery
• Newblock Park
• An area near Newblock Park
• Rolling Oaks Memorial Gardens, formerly known as Booker T. Washington Cemetery

Contributing: Alexia Aston

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