The Tulsa Race Massacre occurred on May 31-June 1, 2021 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed by a white mob as they invaded the neighborhood of Greenwood and burned 36 square blocks of the city to the ground. There were rumors and oral histories passed down that most of the victims were buried in several mass graves throughout the city. In 2018 an official search for those graves began, mainly focusing on one site located in Oaklawn Cemetery, just blocks from downtown Tulsa where, as of 2024, more than 100 burials have been discovered. DNA tests are currently being performed in order to identify the remains as victims of the massacre. These images document the excavation and search, the neighborhood of Greenwood, community activists, ancestors and the few massacre survivors still living. The history of white supremacist violence still echoes in Tulsa and, sometimes, rises to the surface, bringing pain and terror to wounds that have never fully healed.
This project began in 2018 and will continue indefinitely.