Exhumations resume for DNA to ID Tulsa Race Massacre victims

By Ken Miller, Associated Press

A team of scientists started the process of re-exhuming human remains Wednesday in their effort to identify people killed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst known examples of white mob violence against Black Americans in U.S. history.

The team plans to dig up some of the 19 sets of remains, which were initially exhumed a year ago from Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, to test for more DNA.

Of those 19 remains previously exhumed, 14 fit the criteria for additional DNA analysis, but just two of the 14 had enough usable DNA recovered to begin sequencing by Intermountain Forensics, which is examining the remains. Intermountain Forensics plans to take DNA from the remaining 12.

None of the remains recovered are identified or confirmed as victims of the massacre in which more than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds were looted and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed in the racist violence. Historians have estimated the death toll to be between 75 and 300, with generational wealth being wiped out.

Miller covers the story here.

Earlier this year, a reparations lawsuit moved forward.

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