Uncovering Racial Injustice: The Archaeology of the Tulsa Race Riot (Massacre) of 1921

On May 30, 1921 a Black adolescent was falsely accused of raping a White woman in downtown Tulsa, and the aftermath of that false accusation destroyed a thriving African American community and left potentially hundreds dead.  The events that transpired as a direct result are known as the Tulsa Race Riot (or Massacre) of 1921.  A piece of American history that had been ignored for decades has only recently received the deserved attention and investigation required to fully understand what happened, and forensic archaeologists are at the forefront of this investigation.  This blog post will detail the events of the Tulsa Race Riot (or Massacre) of 1921, the early investigations and why they stalled, what the current investigations have yielded, and potential areas of future inquiry.

 

A white woman working in downtown Tulsa accused a Black adolescent of raping her.  While the charges were dropped a month later and the reality was that either their interaction was purely accidental or a lover’s quarrel the implications were devastating.  While the Black adolescent was being arraigned a White mob marched down to the courthouse with the intentions of lynching the accused.  A group of Black World War I veterans intervened, and in the scuffle between the White mob and Black veterans a white man was shot.  The white community sought vengeance.  On the evening and throughout the night of May 31, 1921 a White mob grew to include members of the Tulsa police, Oklahoma National Guard, and members of the Ku Klux Klan, who together systematically razed the area of Greenwood, also referred to as “Black Wall Street”.  According to official records less than 40 people died that night, but historians estimate as many as 300 people lost their lives.  Black businesses and residences were destroyed, never to be rebuilt because insurance companies denied claims and refused pay outs.  Over 10,000 residents were displaced and housed in temporary interment camps.  When they were released they were informed that their dead had already been buried, denying them the opportunity to know the full loss of life and where their loved ones were buried. 

 

The events of that evening were hardly ever spoken of again.  White people were either ashamed or worried about having to face the real judicial consequences of their actions, which never came, and Black survivors feared that speaking out would lead to more bloodshed.  It was not until 1982 when Dr. Scott Ellsworth published a book on the Tulsa Race Riot (or Massacre) of 1921 that people began to take notice.  It took several more decades before the Oklahoma Legislature took action and ratified the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission in 1997.   The Tulsa Race Riot Commission is an independent group of civil servants, activists, descendants of survivors, and leaders tasked with decided how best to move forward with the investigation into the Tulsa Race Riot (or Massacre) of 1921.

 

 A year later the first of two initial geophysical surveys were undertaken in hopes of locating any evidence of the mass graves associated with the Tulsa Race Riot (or Massacre) of 1921.  Geophysical surveys are noninvasive archaeological survey techniques that use a variety of technologies to scan the surface and subsurface of soil to locate any soil anomalies, typically associated with man made interventions.  These are optimal in locating sites quickly and efficiently, when conditions are appropriate.  Unfortunately, while both initial surveys did provide strong evidence for where the mass grave sites may be located the Tulsa Race Riot Commission opted not to move forward with formal excavations at that time.

 

It was not until October 2018 that Tulsa mayor G.T. Bynum reignited the call for further investigations into the location of the mass graves that the archaeological investigation was renewed.  New geophysical surveys had to be completed due to the loss of notes from the previous investigations, and in 2019 the Oklahoma Archaeological survey conducted surveys at three sites: Oaklawn Cemetery, The Canes, and Newblock Park.  These locations were chosen due to historical and oral historical evidence.  Portions of Oaklawn Cemetery continued to yield strong evidence of potential mass graves, and The Canes, which could not be previously surveyed, also yielded some evidence.  Newblock Park was ruled out a second time as a mass grave burial site.  The Tulsa Race Riot Commission voted in favor of archaeological excavations occurring, and they were originally scheduled for April 2020.  They were delayed until July 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. 

 

Initial excavations turned up no evidence of mass graves.  Undeterred, the archaeological team moved on to a section of Oaklawn Cemetery where two known victims were buried and completed test excavations there.  They chose this location based on historical evidence that strongly supported this as a mass grave burial site.  As of mid-June 2021 total of 30 interments/coffins have been reported as a result.  The archaeological team suspects that more burials will be discovered as the excavations continue.

 

While these investigations are ongoing there are already proposals for future avenues of investigation, which would involve forensic anthropologists and ancient DNA analysis.  Forensic anthropologists are already on the scene examining the remains to determine what can be learned from them, particularly in reference to any evidence that these interred individuals are victims of the Tulsa Race Riot (or Massacre) of 1921.  It has been suggested that if available that DNA samples be collected and tested against descendants to determine who was interred and to appropriately reunite the victims with living relatives.  This is fraught with ethical issues for several reasons: first, the question of who and how the DNA analyses would take place is paramount.  The second issue is the sample of DNA to use for comparison.  It was suggested that the ancestry DNA samples would be the best comparative data sets, but the individuals who voluntarily provided their DNA to those companies did not consent to having their DNA used in this investigation.  If their DNA was to be used without their consent this opens up potential misuse of their DNA in other investigations.  At the current time no decisions concerning ancient DNA analyses have been made, but archaeologists and forensic anthropologists are encouraging that the decision be made by the community members.

 

Ultimately, the historical and archaeological investigations of the Tulsa Race Riot (or Massacre) of 1921 will have a profound historical and legal effects.  The forensic archaeological and anthropological investigations could identify how many victims there really were, clarify how the bodies were disposed of and who may have been responsible for it, and uncover the exact causes of death of the victims.  Uncovering the truth of what really happened during the Tulsa Race Riot (or Massacre) of 1921 is paramount, and while the investigation has been and will continue to be slow this is to ensure accuracy.

 

References

Archaeological Institute of America. (2003, September 16). The Tulsa Race Riot . Archaeology Magazine.

Brown, D. L. (2020, October 26). Coffins unearthed as the search for victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre continues. National Geographic.

Gannon, M. I. (2020, May 22). Unearthing the True Toll of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Retrieved from Sapiens: https://www.sapiens.org/news/tulsa-race-massacre/

Hammerstedt, S. W., & Regnier, A. L. (2019). Searching ForGravesFrom the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Geophysical Survey of Oaklawn Cemetery, The Canes,and Newblock Park. Norman, OK: Oklahoma Archeological Survey Research Series 5.

No Author. (2021, June 4). Additional Burials Found at Mass Grave Site in Tulsa. Archaeology Magazine.

Thompson, H. (2021, May 27). To find answers about the 1921 race massacre, Tulsa digs up its painful past. Science News.

Witten, A., Brooks, R., & Fenner, T. (2001). The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: A geophysical study to locate a mass grave. The Leading Edge, 20(6), 655–660.

 

The Beauty & Charm of Kana: Linguistic Art of Japanese Culture & Language

Figure 1: Kana Shodo as written in the Tale of Genji, the world's oldest novel (Source: The British Library)

Typically when one reflects on human history the accomplishments and exploits of men are the focus, but women had a great deal of influence, power, and contributions to art/literature, religion, military conquests, human evolution, and more.  Today’s blog post will expand the current blog posts concerning women in history, specifically addressing Kana Shodo (Figure 1), a native Japanese script that is slowly being revived thanks to the efforts of one woman.  The history and meaning of Kana Shodo will be discussed, along with the revitalization efforts that are bringing attention to this lost script.

 

The term Kana Shodo translates to “woman’s hand” and it was derived from Kanji Shodo, the script imported from China, and manyougana, the oldest Japanese script that was also adopted from Chinese script.  It began in the 10^th century, and Japanese myth assigns the originator of this script to a Japanese priest.  There is no historical evidence to back up this claim or identify who specifically invented this script.  It was used primarily by women for personal correspondence (e.g. diaries or letters among women), the composition of love letters and important pieces of popular literature, as well as for secretive communications, such as planning assassinations and more. 

 

The content of early Kana Shodo writings provides a rich glimpse into imperial Japanese life and culture, particularly from the women’s perspective.  Kanji Shodo was considered the script of the Japanese male elite, thereby reserved for samurai, monks, and noblemen, and the texts written in this script often showcase the military, religious, and political interests of the Japanese.  It was also prohibited to be learned and used by women, who wanted to express themselves through the written word.  They therefore created Kana Shodo, a flowing, cursive like text that was meant to embody femininity and beauty.  One of the key purposes of Kana Shodo was for women to court men.  As it was taboo for women to speak with or show their faces to men women were left with writing letters, and it was a Japanese belief that the more beautiful the letter (in script and content) the more beautiful the woman.  It is said that Japanese noble women would compete to create the newest Kana Shodo scripts, with the most feminine being adopted. 

 

Kana Shodo also provided women an opportunity to break into male dominated fields, particularly literature.  Women would write poems and novels in Kana Shodo, which became popular among not only women but men, too.  In fact, the world’s first novel was written in Kana Shodo and by a female author.  This, along with the desire to correspond back with women love interests, forced men to be able to read and write in Kana Shodo, although they were discouraged from writing in the script unless it was in correspondence to women.  This did not stop them or women to use the script to plot political intrigue, such as assassination attempts. 

 

In the 1900s the Japanese education system was formalized, and only 46 of the Kana Shodo characters were adopted into the formal written language.  Approximately 300 characters and thousands of variant characters were lost as a result.  They were not, however, forgotten.  Master calligrapher Kaoru Akagawa became inspired by reading her grandmother’s writings, as well as historical texts written by Japanese women, and sought and continues to work to revive the lost characters.  She cites that this is one of Japan’s own written languages, a true piece of their cultural identity, which means it should be saved and used more often over Kanji Shodo, which was brought in from Japan.  She uses her fame as an artist and calligrapher to share her story, the Kana Shodo script, as well as Japanese culture with the world, all in an effort to revitalize Kana Shodo.

 

References

Akagawa, Kaoru. Kana-Artist and a Master of Kana Shodo, Kaoru Akagawa. 2010. Electronic. 3 June 2021.

Dearnley, Elizabeth. "Saving 'woman hand': the artist rescuing female-only writing." The Guardian 26 June 2019. Electronic.

Jozuka, Emiko. "The Japanese calligrapher who keeps a forgotten female ancient script alive." CNN Style 15 March 2020. Electronic.

 

        

I Love Lucy: Australopithecus afarensis

 

Figure 1: Cast of an Australopithecus afarensis skull

 

One of the more popularly known hominid species is Australopithecus afarensis (Figure 1), which is nicknamed “Lucy”.  This particular hominid species was discovered by Mary and Louis Leakey in 1930s and formally identified in 1974.  Due to the over 300 specimens that have been discovered it is one of the most widely studied hominid species.  This blog post will go deeper into what we currently know about Australopithecus afarensis.

 

Australopithecus afarensis existed between 3.9 to 3 million years ago throughout eastern Africa, specifically Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya.  Like all Australopithecine species this species was bipedal, but it was definitively proven not only through morphological features in the hips, legs, and feet but also the Laetoli footprints (Figure 2).  These footprints, named after the site in Tanzania where they were found, are fossilized foot prints left in hot ash.  They depict three individuals walking together, and the imprints of the feet show full bipedality.

Figure 2: Laetoli footprints

 

Australopithecus afarensis specimens reflect traits found in modern apes and humans.  They have small brains, prognathism (jutting forward of the face), a sagittal crest (boney ridge along the midline of the skull), and long arms, all of which are ape-like traits.  They grew physically very quickly, more similarly to ape species.  They had pointing canine teeth and were bipedal walkers, both of which are human traits.  Like all Australopithecines they were strict vegetarians, subsisting on leaves, fruit, seeds, roots, nuts, and insects, although it is possible they consumed small invertebrate species.  

 

References

 Jurmain, Robert, Kilgore, Lynn, Trevathan, Wenda, Ciochon, Russell L. Introduction to Physical

Anthropology. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 2014. Print.