On Thursday (June 3), an archaeological team searching a cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma for victims of the 1921 Race Massacre found five more coffins, bringing the total number of coffins found at a mass grave site there to 20 so far. A formal exhumation process is scheduled to start on Monday (June 7).
Oklahoma archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck estimated that 30 or more bodies could be at the mass grave site, NBC News reported.
The search for victims of the 1921 Massacre in Tulsa started last year at Oaklawn Cemetery. In October, researchers found at least 12 sets of remains in coffins, but authorities couldn’t confirm if the remains are massacre victims.
The official death toll recorded shortly after the Massacre was 36, though historians believe upwards of 300 people were killed between May 31, 1921 and June 1, 1921.
Survivors of the Massacre recently traveled to the nation’s capital to appeal to Congress for reparations and formal recognition of what took place in the Greenwood District 100 years ago.
President Joe Biden traveled to Tulsa earlier this week to mark the centennial while unveiling a new program to address systemic oppression and economic inequality.
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