Between May 31 and June 1, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, white Americans murdered, destroyed, and terrorized the wealthiest African American community in the United States. The massacre began over a false allegation that a black teenager named Dick Rowland had assaulted a white woman. Tulsa’s official reported number of dead was 36, but the number of dead black Americans is widely presumed to be much higher.
Over 6,000 black people were arrested, 800 were wounded, and 300 died as a result of what Americans have been vaguely told was a “race riot.” As Daily Kos contributor Denise Oliver Velez and others have repeatedly pointed out, the events in Tulsa were a massacre of American citizens, a reminder of the kind of real domestic terrorism our country has faced and continues to face on the part of white Americans unwilling to honestly diagnose their own fears, angers, and bigotries. HBO’s nine-episode series based on the 1980s comic book series Watchmen recently brought the Tulsa race massacre to the public’s attention as an event in the history of this country to be reckoned with.
Researchers from the University of Oklahoma believe they have made a historic discovery. A geophysical survey of three sites has revealed what they believe to be “common graves.” A section of Greenlawn Cemetery and parts of the Tulsa area The Canes showed the kind of anomalies associated with mass graves. The evidence will likely lead to a further, more definitive investigation into the sites in question. Senior researched Scott Hammerstedt told NBC News, "I'm as confident as I can be in the results that this is a very big candidate with something associated with the massacre." According to NBC, Booker T. Washington Cemetery in Tulsa is in talks with the research team, in hopes that it can scan some of its grounds for further evidence of mass graves.
For many decades, many predominantly white officials have tried to push off deeper investigations into the events of May 31-June 1, 1921. Uncovering the literal bodies and skeletons in America’s closet continues to be a source of shame for so many white Americans, and anger is frequently their only response. Trying to smother a deep wound will not allow the wound to heal, and worrying about the scar should be a secondary concern to healing the patient.