Initial Groundwork Completed At Rolling Oaks Cemetery In Search For Massacre Victims

The initial groundwork at Rolling Oaks Memorial Gardens Cemetery wrapped up Tuesday in the search for mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

It’s the first step in deciding whether any digging will happen at the south Tulsa cemetery.

Archaeologists spent Monday and part of Tuesday working at the cemetery, which was closed to the public during that time.  

The City of Tulsa took pictures showing the Oklahoma Archeological Survey team doing its initial scanning work with the ground penetrating radar and other equipment. 

The site was one of several locations listed in the 2001 state-commissioned report about the massacre as a potential location where victims could be.

Eleven miles away at Oaklawn Cemetery, the city said crews started excavating “Trench A” Tuesday, which is the part of the mass grave that was discovered last October. 

The city on Tuesday was not able to confirm whether any individuals were taken out of that that trench and brought to the lab for analysis. 

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The next step at Rolling Oaks Memorial Gardens Cemetery is for scientists to study what they scanned and present what they find to the Public Oversight Committee. No word yet on when that will happen.