"We may never know how many people died from this atrocity."
Those solemn words from Brenda Nails-Alford, a descendent from survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. In the shadows of the downtown Tulsa skyline, work resumes at Oaklawn Cemetery, the fifth excavation at the site in the 1921 Graves Investigation.
"This is about bringing closure to families," Mayor Monroe Nichols said at a press conference on October 14. "This is about a community coming together to unite, and in doing so bring closure to this community."
This is the largest excavation effort so far, totaling just over 1,900 square feet on the cemetery's southwest corner. Archaeologist Dr. Kary Stackelbeck laid out the plan.
"This week, we're doing the basic site prep and getting things really rolling," Dr. Stackelbeck s