As Tulsa commemorates 100th anniversary of race massacre, officials work to identify remains in mass grave

On the 100 year anniversary of the destruction of Black Wall Street, work is underway to identify remains found in a mass grave that may be connected to the massacre.

As Tulsa, Oklahoma, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, work is underway to identify remains found in a mass grave that may be connected to the massacre in an all-Black neighborhood in the city known as "Black Wall Street." A group of archaeologists, anthropologists and historians began exhuming 12 unmarked coffins on Tuesday that they discovered in an unmarked grave in October 2020. The grave was uncovered at the Oaklawn Cemetery in an area known as the "Original 18" site. Funeral home records show at least 18 massacre victims were buried in the area. Historian and Tulsa native Scott Ellsworth said the victims of the 1921 massacre should be remembered in a memorial, “akin to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.” “These people, these remains, this shrine will become a shrine, not just to victims of the Tulsa race massacre, but to the victims of racist violence in America,” Ellsworth, who was in attendance as they resumed the exhumation Tuesday, told ABC News.