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1 min read History

A 104-Year-Old Mass Grave in Tulsa Is Still Giving Up Names

The victims were buried without record. More than a century later, a forensic cold case remains open, and identifications keep surfacing.
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In October 2024, C. L. Daniel got his name back.

Daniel, a Black World War I veteran, became the first victim of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre identified by name through forensic genetic genealogy. He was followed by George Melvin Gillespie. Then James Goings. The technique is the same one that caught the Golden State Killer: DNA extracted from unidentified remains, uploaded to public genealogy databases, matched to living relatives, and traced back up the family tree to the dead. The forensic sequencing runs through Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City, funded by a $1 million Emmett Till grant from the Department of Justice.

A fifth excavation began at Oaklawn Cemetery in October 2025, turning up 42 graves not previously known. As of that round, DNA analysis covered 22 additional potential victims. Evidence of gunshot wounds and trauma had already been found in areas searched during 2024.

Historians have estimated the massacre's death toll at somewhere between 75 and 300. The true number was suppressed for decades. City officials have said publicly that the full count may never be confirmed.

Intermountain Forensics is asking anyone with family stories, a matching surname, a DNA test on file, or a written family tree to reach out through the 1921 DNA website.

The investigation has not been closed. The list of names keeps growing with each report.

Read the full story at City of Tulsa, 1921 Graves Investigation

Hot Take: A government that failed to count these deaths in 1921 is now asking their descendants to help count them. That's not closure. That's outsourcing.

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