21 more unmarked graves discovered in U.S. Tulsa Race Massacre investigation: media

A woman with Tulsa displayed on her forehead attends an event in remembrance of the 100th year anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, in New York, United States, May 31, 2021. (Xinhua/Michael Nagle)

Some historians estimate as many as 300 Black people were killed in the attack and the days of martial law that followed. Nearly all are believed to have been buried in a series of mass graves approved by the white authorities of the time.

NEW YORK, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Researchers have unearthed an additional 21 unmarked adult graves that could be linked to victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, reported the National Public Radio.

Tulsa, Okla., city officials announced Monday that 17 adult-sized graves were uncovered at an excavation site in the Oaklawn Cemetery and another four were found on Tuesday, including two child-sized burials, said the report.

The project is part of the city's years-long efforts to get an accurate count of how many people were killed when a white mob decimated the affluent Greenwood district of Tulsa, where black residents lived under Jim Crow segregation.

Some historians estimate as many as 300 Black people were killed in the attack and the days of martial law that followed. Nearly all are believed to have been buried in a series of mass graves approved by the white authorities of the time.

Under the temporary restrictions, Black family members of the deceased were reportedly barred from witnessing the burials, as they were held under armed guard, away from their dead mothers, fathers, sons and daughters.

Historic accounts trace the spark of the riot to an incident between a young black man and a white woman in a downtown elevator. The incident happened shortly after a spate of race riots that swept across the county in 1919.