TULSA, OK — Officials announced on Friday they have confirmed the identity of one of the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre through DNA evidence and genetic material.
C. L. Daniel, a World War I veteran, was previously known only as “Burial 3.” But thanks to an initiative launched in 2021 that is seeking to identify the victims of the century-old tragedy, his identity is no longer a mystery.
Daniel was identified through DNA and historical evidence, nonprofit organization Intermountain Forensics said in a statement Friday. His body was found in Oaklawn Cemetery, where it is believed there may be 17 more victims graves.
“This is a historic and humbling discovery for the victims and families of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a statement. “More than a century later, we are finding more answers about where the victims were buried.”
It’s unclear why Daniel was living in Tulsa at the time of the massacre. He was previously living in Ogden where he had been looking for work but planned to move to Georgia where his mother lived.
Estimates on how many people were killed vary, but most historians believe at least 300 Black people were killed in the Tulsa Race Massacre. Hundreds of white residents looted and burned down the affluent Black neighborhood of Greenwood, also known as Black Wall Street. Many of the victims were buried in unmarked mass graves and remained unidentified until the recent discovery.
The last two survivors of the massacre have sought reparations through Oklahoma courts but their cases have been dismissed. Last month, the Oklahoma Supreme Court also rejected an appeal.
The Tulsa Race Massacre has been pointed to as an example of the economic harms racial violence has had on Black Americans for generations, and led to calls for reparations for the victims and descendants of victims.
More on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and forensic research to identify victims.
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