The Tulsa Race Massacre of May 31, 1921, is one of the worst incidents of racial violence ever in US history. University of Oklahoma researchers could have found a huge mass grave from the Tulsa Race Massacre. Mayor G.T. Bynum of Tulsa in October 2018, investigated rumours of mass graves apparently from the race riots, labelling them a blot on their community. Now, at a city-wide public hearing, experts revealed that by applying geophysical scans to survey Oaklawn Cemetery, two identified spots could contain bodies of those massacred nearly 100 years back.
One spot, a 30 ft. by 25 ft. trench, could be a mass grave as per expert researchers from the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey. However, they cautioned that they have no knowledge of the number of bodies in the potential graves, ranging anywhere from 10 to 100 and may be unable to identify the bodies as the level of preservation is yet to be ascertained.
Shocking Incidents of Racial Violence
The Oklahoma Historical Society rates the two-day Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921 as easily the single worst incident of racial violence in American history. It actually flared up after a young colored person named Dick Rowland used an elevator on May 30 1921, while Sarah Page, a white woman was already in it. The accounts of what actually happened and the shocking incidents that followed, vary vastly depending on who you ask. Accounts of an untoward incident continued to circulate among the city’s white community all day long and became exaggerated after each re-telling, as per records of the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum. Rowland was then arrested on 1 June and formally accused of indecently assaulting Page; meanwhile, a white mob demanded Rowland be turned over to them “for instant justice”.
This prompted a group of about 25 men of colour to go to the courthouse, offering to offer to protect Rowland, as there was fear that he would be lynched by a mob, but this group offer was turned down. As the white only mob continued to pressurise the sheriff and local guardsmen, more black men turned up at the courthouse, later in the night. About 1,500 armed white men then faced off against about 75 black men outside the courthouse. Shots were fired and violence then ensued, unabated. The greatly outnumbered African-American men retreated back to Greenwood, the city’s predominantly segregated African American district and the white mob burnt and looted many black business establishments. White men resorted to driving by and shooting indiscriminately in black residential neighborhoods.
Martial Law Imposed
The National Guard came to halt the violence and the city placed under martial law. After the two-day orgy of violence and carnage, 35 city blocks were ruined and over 800 people treated for injuries. Officially 36 died in the riot, but the number may actually be in the hundreds. Further investigation will remain pending for a few months, and the number of people actually interred in these mass-graves can be investigated, because the public oversight committee for the project will only meet in February 2020. Researchers have recommended that for the moment, the city must secure these sites. The city authorities are also investigating the Booker T. Washington Cemetery, as researchers feel that it could also be another potential massacre gravesite.