Who perished in the Tulsa Race Massacre?


The article tells the story of Jeanette Batchelor-Young, who discovered a potential connection between her family and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre through a message from a forensic lab. The massacre, one of the most horrific racial attacks in American history, left Tulsa's Greenwood district in ruins, with an estimated death toll between 36 and 300. The city's effort to identify the victims through living relatives has led to the excavation of a mass gravesite in Oaklawn Cemetery. Researchers are using DNA samples to identify potential relatives of the massacre victims, offering a chance to bring closure to families and uncover the stories of those lost to history. The investigation has already made significant progress, linking DNA profiles to living relatives and surnames in seven states. While researchers caution that they are not yet certain whether the remains belong to massacre victims, the identifications would provide valuable insights into burial patterns at the cemetery. The article also provides a brief overview of the Tulsa Race Massacre and its devastating impact on the Greenwood community, known as Black Wall Street. It highlights the erasure of the historical record by Tulsa officials and the lack of accountability for the deaths and destruction. For Jeanette Batchelor-Young, the search for her Black father's side of the family has yielded several clues, including a potential connection to the massacre through her paternal family history. Overall, the article emphasizes the significance of uncovering new details about family history, whether connected to the massacre or not, and the sense of belonging it provides to individuals like Jeanette Batchelor-Young.



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