mass graves
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Investigators Unearth Mass Grave During Search for 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Victims
Days after starting the second phase of a months-long search to find the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, a forensic team uncovered at least 10 bodies found in an unmarked mass grave. The remains—10 wooden coffins buried in the same large pit—were found in a portion of Oaklawn Cemetery on Wednesday, close to…
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Tulsa Begins Excavation Process Into Possible Mass Gravesite of Victims of the 1921 Race Riots
It’s been just under a century since Tulsa, Okla., saw one of the most brutal and evil acts of American racism imaginable post-slavery. On May 31, 1921 hundreds of Black people were murdered and over a thousand homes, businesses, churches and schools were destroyed all because a Black teenager working as a shoe shiner was…
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Tulsa Hires First Black Police Chief, Criminal Justice Reform Advocates See More of the Same
It was a decision that Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum called “one of the most important” he could make during his tenure: appointing the next chief of the Tulsa Police. The department has been beleaguered with claims of racism since long before the high-profile 2016 killing of Terence Crutcher at the hands of then-Tulsa, Okla., cop…
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Rebuilding Black Wall Street: Tulsa Advocates Fundraise to Bring Greenwood Back to Its Glory
The Greenwood Chamber of Commerce kicked off a major fundraising effort to rebuild Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood commercial district, the home of Black Wall Street, last week. The group is seeking $1 million in donations to rebuild the site, which was destroyed by white supremacists in 1921 in one of the bloodiest racist massacres in U.S.…
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Scientists Say They’ve Found Possible Evidence of Mass Graves From 1921 Tulsa Massacre
Forensic archaeologists in Tulsa, Okla., appear one step closer to identifying the site where hundreds of black residents were buried after the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, considered one of the worst episodes of white supremacist violence in U.S. history. A team of scientists announced at a public forum Monday night that they found “anomalies … consistent…
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Tulsa Mayor Calls for Investigation Into Possible Mass Graves From 1921 Black Wall Street Massacre
Nearly 100 years ago, white rioters laid siege to the nation’s most affluent black neighborhood, colloquially known as “Black Wall Street,” in Tulsa, Okla., setting fire to homes, destroying businesses and killing hundreds of black people. The wounds of that incident still scar the town, particularly because so many unresolved questions—like where some 300 black…