quote:

The death of a black man at the hands of police is, today, shouted into the national memory.

But in 1921, it remained possible to erase a genocide.

Congregant: I grew up attending segregated Tulsa public schools. Never in any of the schools was anything ever said about it.

The congregation of Vernon AME Church is two generations beyond 1921 but they too were victimized.

Scott Pelley: this was not taught in the public schools?

Congregant: No.

Scott Pelley: You never heard about this in class?

Congregant: You never heard a word about it.

Damario Solomon-Simmons: When I went to OU in 1998, I was sitting in a class of African American history. And the professor was talking about this place where black people had businesses and had money and had doctors and lawyers. And he said it was in Tulsa. And I raised my hand, I said, "No, I'm from Tulsa. That's not accurate." And he was talking about this massacre riot. I said, "Man, what are you talking about?" I said, "I went to school on Greenwood. I've never heard of this ever."

quote:

Ten badly decayed coffins apparently laid in pairs in a trench decades ago have been found in Oaklawn Cemetery, officials said Wednesday.

A research team searching for unmarked burials from Tulsa’s 1921 Race Massacre said the discovery is consistent with reports that 18 Black men killed on May 31-June 1, 1921, were buried in Oaklawn.

The researchers said the arrangement of the coffins meets the definition of a mass grave, although they can’t say for certain that the burials are connected to the massacre.

And it might be awhile before they can.