Search for victims of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre continues with more grave excavations

The City of Tulsa and researchers started a new round of grave excavations at Oaklawn Cemetery on Monday as the search for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre continues.

The City of Tulsa announced the first identification of a Tulsa Race Massacre victim in the City’s investigation at a news conference on Friday, July 12.

FOX23 spoke with Dr. Kary Stackelbeck, State Archeologist of Oklahoma on Monday.

Stackelbeck is leading the excavation team at Oaklawn Cemetery.

She said after identifying one victim, they’re feeling motivated and more confident that they’re narrowing in on the right area.

“I think the mayor has mentioned correctly how emotional this is for our team,” she said. “I think everybody knew this was possible, this is exactly the thing that we were aiming for and what we have been working so diligently and hard for was this possibility.”

Stackelbeck said it is gratifying work.

“It is tremendously gratifying to see it actually come to fruition and it just, I get goosebumps, and it just makes me wanna cry every time I think about it, because it’s just something that truly is incredible,” she said. “It’s amazing and it definitely is something that brings that kind of hope, knowledge, affirmation and confirmation that we’re in the right place, looking in the right areas, our model is working.”

The excavation process is expected to last four weeks, with the first being primarily preparation work and tree removal.

Stackelbeck said although its a tedious process everyday, they only have two foreseeable problems: tree roots and rain.

“It’s entirely possible because most of the burials, actually all of the burials are manufactured from wood in some fashion,” she said. “So overtime that wood degrades.”

“Anytime we get rain, that saturates the ground and that brings water into our excavation in a way that does create some challenges for how we do our excavations,” Stackelbeck said.

In a site with one recently identified victim and two other marked graves that are victims, Stackelbeck said the team remains fully confident in their work.

“It just makes me feel very proud of our team,” she said. “The work that goes into this, I cannot overstate how challenging it can be. It’s very personal, and we all take it very seriously, and it’s very somber, and we’re very respectful to the extent that we can be through this whole process.”