Tulsa searches for mass graves from 1921 Tulsa race massacre

By Gabrielle Sorto, CNN
Updated 1934 GMT (0334 HKT) October 8, 2019

(CNN) — The search for evidence that victims of the 1921 race massacre, one of the country's worst episodes of racial violence, were buried in mass graves began this week in Tulsa.

Scientists and forensic anthropologists began scanning Oaklawn Cemetery on Monday for anomalies that might be consistent with mass graves.

Mayor G.T. Bynum announced last year that he would reopen the investigation into mass graves, calling it a murder investigation.

"The only way to move forward in our work to bring about reconciliation in Tulsa is by seeking the truth honestly," Mayor Bynum said in a statement. "As we open this investigation 98 years later, there are both unknowns and truths to uncover."

In Oaklawn Cemetery, there is a grassy portion of the park with no marked graves. There, researchers detected an underground "abnormality" that could be consistent with a mass grave, though the researchers warned it could be a "pauper's grave," the mayor said in 2018. That's the term for burial sites of those who couldn't afford proper funerals.

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