Tulsa race massacre: Five more bodies found at mass-grave site
Crew members has found five more coffins of people believed to be victims in the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, officials said.
Finding the five additional coffins brings the total number of people found at the mass-grave site at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to 20.
The search began last year, with crew members finding at least 12 different sets of remains believed to be victims in the massacre, but authorities have yet to confirm those people were killed during the horrific event. The remains were covered back up and expected to be studied at a later date.
With the most recent findings, excavation and analysis was expected to be completed this week, and crews would then start the formal exhumation process on 7 June for the found remains.
State archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck has estimated that 30 bodies or more are likely buried at the site.
During the massacre, which took place from 31 May to 1 June, 1921, a white mob ransacked homes and businesses in the predominantly black Tulsa neighbourhood of Greenwood, which included a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street. The mob also attacked residents, making it one of the most violent racial events in United States history.
News reports of the events were largely silenced from covering what took place during the massacre, which has led to uncertainty about how many people were killed.
After the massacre, city officials claimed only 36 people, including 12 white people, were killed. But historians have now estimated the death toll to be between 75 to 300 people.
Thousands of residents were also left homeless after the massacre.
Finding the additional coffins comes in a week that marked the 100-year anniversary of the massacre.
President Joe Biden this week became the first sitting president to visit the site and speak about racial injustice.
“For much too long, the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness,” Mr Biden said. “My fellow Americans, this was not a riot, this was a massacre.”
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