for [Music] everybody ready to go yes sir okay well thank you for being with us today uh from the very beginning at the Forefront of this search have been the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre while this search is important for many reasons at the most human level for all of us who've worked on this search we just wanted to find these victims and reunite them with their families I committed the city from the outset to follow the truth wherever it led us and at each step we have followed the guidance of the best technical experts in the whole world to determine what we should do and those steps have been many they began with historical research back in the late 1990s and early 2000s to identify potential locations where these Graves may be located later on geophysical work was done at those sites to try and narrow down within those sites potential areas uh that should be looked at uh more recently core sampling was done at each of these sites again continuing to narrow that down then test excavations uh to see what might be underground in those spaces then full boore excavations which were carried out uh with paint painstaking Care by the teams doing the work uh with respect for the remains both of victims and non-victims uh that were found along the way then after remains were found there was forensic analysis in the field to determine if those remains should be exhumed and if they were then there was further forensic analysis in a lab and if we were really fortunate DNA was extracted and analyzed and the last time that we held one of these press conferences we were announcing uh that for the first time that we're aware of in human history DNA profiles were able to be constructed of uh remains that had potentially been underground for over a century to try and work between DNA and genealogical Records to identify uh who the remains in the ground were for the remains that we knew as burial number three that long line of testing and refining evidence LED researchers to this letter written in 1936 by an attorney on behalf of his client who was seeking veterans benefits and I want to read part of this February 11th 1936 to the Veterans Administration in Atlanta Georgia gentlemen a negro woman Amanda W Daniel has appealed to me for help in securing any benefits that may be due her or which she may secure under present regulations she is in destitute circumstances she had a son CL Daniel who served in the army during the late War she had has no discharge and is going to have difficulty in establishing his death CL was killed in a race riot in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1921 according to the best information that she has furnished to me and it goes on today because of the efforts of so many people I can stand before you to announce that we've identified the first 1921 tuls race Massacre victim since we began our search for them 5 years ago CL L Daniel was a veteran who served our country in World War I who was killed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and whose family did not know where he had been buried for the last 103 years until this week when I read that letter as a parent I can't help but think about his mom Mrs Daniel who knew her brave son had been killed but never knew what became of his remains identifying Mr Daniel's remains has been candidly an emotionally powerful experience for every person on our team it makes every challenging day of this search worth it but it's also important in the larger context of this search his remains show no signs of gunshot wounds they were identified purely due to the expertise of our team of experts and give us hope that other remains found in similar circumstances could be those of other victims we also have documented evidence that there are at least 17 other victims buried in oaklan Cemetery so this identification affirms our need to continue this search with the knowledge that identification and reunification is possible I want to express as their elected spokesperson Tulsa's profound gratitude to everyone who brought us to this day from the local historians and leaders who developed the 2001 State commission report to our team of experts who are pouring their hearts and Minds into this search today I want to thank my colleagues on the Tulsa city council and the citizens of Tulsa for continuing to fund this search there have been many times as I've said where it felt like we were searching for a needle in a pile of needles but today I hope that this generation of tulson can appreciate that you've helped this family find their relative after he was missing for 103 years now I'll turn it over to Allison wild with Inter Mountain forensics who's going to share more details on how we got here today thank you I'm going to provide some details about how our team came to um connect baral 3 with Mr C Daniel and also give a little more context to his life um I want to emphasize that although you see one genealogist standing here today I represent the entire team which consists of not only Inner Mountain forensics but our but our dedicated um Partners who are professional genealogists from the organizations the DNA do project DNA detectives identif finders International and Moxy forensics thousands of hours have been spent on the genealogy work to date not just for this burial but for all as a team we also realized we're only able to do our work because of the dedication of so many other organizations and individuals over the last 100 years that have brought us to this point the goals of the 1921 Graves investigation are to find and identify the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre I was confident the genetic genealogy could provide identifications but today we know that the efforts of the community the anthropology team the archaeology team they found the victims as genealogists our daily work centers around families and communities and we have continually been humbled by the Greenwood and Tulsa Race Massacre decendant communities as they protect the history of and serve as the Guardians of the unknown victims of the Tulsa Race massacre today the family members of Mr C Daniel join those communities I'm confident his next of kin who we've worked with and the memory of their loved one are in good hands the community's dedication and the work of the city's 1921 Graves investigation has led to an added chapter in the story of the events of 1921 to make the connection between burial 3 and Mr Daniel our work Begins by comparing the DNA profiles in the Jed match and the family tree databases um to the which are consists of everyday family history uh hobbyists it's it's consumers and people that have taken DNA tests and placed it there um unknowingly they have contributed so much to This research we then reach out to um some of those individuals we build the Trees of many of those matching DNA relatives and we start our work to say where and how might burial 3 fit into this web of families you know early on WE published a long list of surnames that were related to burial 3 and tied to um the county of coetta Georgia I think I've been saying that wrong for a very long time um and the families were very interrelated it took a lot of time and effort to untangle those families a lot of contact with um descendants of families of Interest who willingly shared their stories their DNA where comfortable and their time the relatives or the people that we contacted who didn't share DNA you helped you helped us the people who took a chance and answered the phone call of a stranger who wanted to talk about your family history you helped us and we want to thank them it was only through those additional DNA comparisons that we were able to narrow our Focus down to a set of brothers and begin um requesting records of their lives which led to the records from the National Archive um that the mayor just discussed I'd like to read um a small portion of the life narrative created by the burial 3 team leader Janelle Daniels that she created for the family and the next of kin SE Daniel born in New in Georgia was one of seven sons born to Thomas and Amanda Maryweather Daniel after the early death of their father the Daniel family faced significant challenges their mother Amanda became a Widow by 1910 and worked tirelessly to provide for her sons despite the hardships the Daniel family together persevered and records show that by 1920 Amanda proudly owned their home a testament to their hard work and resilience I think it's only fitting that Amanda this strong woman that our genealogy team came to know and love so well is the reason that we're here today it's her it's her efforts her perseverance that led to the documentation that was able to um give us the answers that we were searching for seal Daniel served his country during World War I he was stationed at Camp Gordon during his service there he spent spent 19 days in the base hospital he was honorably discharged having served with dedication for 9 months and 16 days in 1919 CL embarked on a journey across the United States displaying an adventurous spirit and a longing to explore the country in a heartfelt letter to the Army requesting veteran benefits he expressed his commitment to the war effort and his ongoing struggle with the injuries he sustained he sought assistance to secure employment and sustenance hoping to return home to his beloved mother in noon and Georgia that was in February of 1921 tragically Seal's Journey was cut short sometime while on route to Georgia from Ogden Utah which is only 45 minutes from the DNA lab that would eventually sequence his day his DNA and bring us here he stopped in Tulsa Oklahoma and it was there he became a victim of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre the research in Daniel and another missing brother is ongoing and will hopefully bring additional details of their lives and the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre to this community also ongoing of course is our research on the other burials in the genealogy phase we encourage everyone to read the surnames and locations of interest that are posted on the city of Tulsa's website if you recognize an ancestor surname or family location please contact the genealogy team use the provide information button on our website which is Tulsa 1921 dna. org or you can email the genealogy team directly at ID team at Tulsa 1921 dna. if you've taken a consumer DNA test such as ancestry DNA my Heritage 23 and me you could be very useful to our project we don't compare the burial profiles in those databases we need you to take an extra step and upload that information to Jed match or family tree DNA and then you will be directly compared to the burials in this project and may have a hand in guiding us toward the next identification last I want to thank the NEX of kin of burial 3 who shared their stories families and their DNA with our team this is the beginning of a new phase of the 1921 Graves investigation in which they will play a prominent part we realize this news has come to a sh as a shock to them the city has pledged their support support to the family members and we look forward to connecting them to the Greenwood and Tulsa Race Massacre descendant communities as we know that they will do the same I'd like now to to turn over to Miss Brenda Alford a representative of The Descendant Community thank you good morning this is an awesome day a day that has taken forever to come to fruition and I have to share with you just to be honest that when I heard this news it bought tears to my eyes I'm going to try to hold it in right now but this is absolutely awesome today I am thinking of the families and the community members who lost loved ones that they did not get to memorialized in the ways that they would want it to do they would want to do it I just all so think about the awesome experience it has been for me to have the opportunity to work along these awesome people to help find the graves and the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre I am so very humbled and honored to stand here today to witness this time in history and this historic moment as it is I want to again thank mayor GT bid for allowing these processes to move forward after so so many years and to our awesome team members who have put so much work into these processes to bring us to this final situation and this day I just want to give them a hand I tell you please help me and finally I'd like to pay homage to our dear Lake cheer Mr Kevin Ross who did so much to find the history and share the history of our community to make sure that we never forget what happened on Greenwood and Black Wall Street we all know standing here that he would be so very very proud and we are honored to carry on the legacies thank you and I I really want to thank uh Miss Alford who's been a just a tremendous leader on this every step of the way you see her here at these press conferences but she's out at every time out in the field helping the team um uh I think as you can see I'm I'm going to avoid looking at my friends over here think we're all choked up about this um and this is one family this is one family who gets to give a a member of their family that they lost a proper burial after not knowing where they were for over a century we know we have at least 17 more people to find in this cemetery and it is so important that we keep that work going so uh I I also want to use this to announce starting the week of July 22nd our team of experts will be right back out there in oaklan continuing uh the excavation and Analysis and work that goes into uh finding these victims and uh as Allison mentioned gives the the DNA team and the genealogical team the the resources and the material they need to try and find these families out there uh so we will be back at it again I want to I want to thank my colleagues on the council who just adopted a budget a couple weeks ago that will fund this phase uh of the search uh I we are hopeful and I want to reiterate Allison's point a moment ago that there are other families out there that maybe didn't know about this search yet uh or were hesitant because they didn't know know if it would really lead to being connected with their family member that they've lost and now can see from this that it is possible to find them you can go uh to cityoftulsa.org 1921 Graves and everything that we have from the city is on that site from the very beginning of this search to today all the material that you need to learn about it or to participate in it is all right there and we hope that you will um again I just like our thoughts today are with Mr Daniel's family uh who you know were emotional about this I can't imagine how it is for them after so much time being reunited and with his remains and finally finding out where he's been uh we're thinking of them and we're going to work with them every step of the way whatever they decide they want to do moving forward uh with his the City of Tulsa is fully supportive of that as his next of Ken uh and uh we'll continue this search till we find everybody that we can I would love to answer any questions that you have we are streaming live if you have a question please raise your hand we'll come around with the microphone what an exciting update after six years thank you for all this information I'm wondering if you guys could share any details on how you this letter is there an original copy out there and what steps did you take to that this letter was um that's a great question we received the letter directly from the National Archives we have done no work to authenticate it um when I contacted the City of Tulsa I think there was a decision making point and I can't speak to to their decision- making point but but clearly there's a decision to be made do we continue to research in private um before releasing any information or is information released to the community as soon as possible and you can see the decision that was made so our research is ongoing we have we have a lot we've already started reaching out and doing more but um a letter like that a document like that that comes out of the National Archive is is too important to sit on you well can I before we get I think it's important like this letter didn't just fall out of the sky it it was located by Allison after finding tracking down to the the mother right yes yes in case I wasn't clear in my first comments um those the DNA reference testers and the research that we had done let us clear clearly to a set of Brothers in researching all those Brothers there were there were record um requests and other attempts carried out by our team to get more information one of our some of the information had already come back and was not fruitful this particular information was delivered to us this week and as you saw was very fruitful and we will of course uh we'll be providing that document and others that we're really fortunate that the federal bureaucracy sits on all that paperwork and collects it over the years because it's been crucial in this and we'll provide that to all of you as well did I understand you also found February 1921 and so does that letter specifically say he's going to Tulsa or says he's going um the information all came from the same records request there were several documents in that the Veterans Administration and the war Risk insurance department were documenting uh requests for assistance they had received a letter from him from Ogden Utah that was dated February 1921 that stated he was seeking assistance and that his intended goal was to um travel back to n and Georgia to be with his mother there was no mention made of Tulsa um yeah no mention made of Tulsa we can only assume that in his efforts to travel to her he went through Tulsa as we know he was here I've got two questions one of them is kind of a clarification on some of these documents they say CL Daniel or one of his siblings you are now confident it is Daniel and not a brother in terms of the DNA analysis because we CL didn't have any direct ascendants the brothers that had Direct ascendants we have uh we had already been in the process of DNA reference testing and so we know because of that that they bear the appropriate relationship to CL but it also could be one of his brothers unless you can uh compare your DNA directly to yourself or one of your descendants when you get to the point of great nieces and nephews they would all share the same amount of DNA with any of the brothers so CL is the only brother that we have any context to place in Tula so we can say it's definitely we can say two things C Daniel was a victim of the Tulsa Race Massacre according to his own mother and the burial three is consistent with the DNA we would expect to see in CL Daniel or one of his brothers as I mentioned there is another brother that we're still researching that is also missing we have no context to say for sure that he was ever in Tulsa or in Oklahoma we will we will look for that um we've speculated as a team that what if the other brother was here as well and what if the other brother is one of the burials that we have not been able to bring the genealogy phase yet I know for sure none of the other burials are his brother because we compare the burials directly to each other and they're unrelated as of yet but we we will continue researching second question is and it's it's about some of the the word especially on this map here it says plot three that is y'all's word plot he there was no they didn't bury him gently in a designated area is that still he was dump there is that still what happen Dr yeah name oh sorry uh I'm Dr Stubblefield um am I too hot a little I'm short uh I'm Dr Stubblefield from the University of Florida the lead forensic anthropologist on on our investigation and um to address your question about the plot three uh oakw Cemetery even to the white and colored Potters field and we're digging in the colored Potters field area I mean those are his actual names I'm not hearkening to uh annoying terms the cemetery was plotted to the burial they had a space allocations per burial and so when we say plot three is really burial three our third burial that we encountered so not the cities okay question Gary Lee from the Oklahoma eagle questions one is that I noted in the notes and I think that the mayor said that the the cause of death was not really clear but I wonder if anything in the forensics indicated anything about any physical altercation that might have taken place on this particular Vic okay so thank you you're asking about his cause of death so his remains were very fragmentary um that's a general theme of The Remains coming from that portion of the cemetery so by fragmentary I mean uh before you move them you might see that a bone is there and intact and then once you move it to take it to the laboratory it's in multiple pieces and it has to do with just time and pressure and some parts of him were in better shape than others so he was in good enough shape for us to determine his skeletal age that he was a young man I'm not sure he even made 25 but as far as damage trauma I've even reviewed since then the images we had for his legs I've looked at the notes uh in your he complained about leg pain his disability was General debility in that packet in the information we have so we've seen multiple individuals in the cemetery who have pathological conditions involving their legs I didn't detect that uh for burial 3 Mr Daniel so but he was not in he was not well preserved so if he'd had he was too young for arthritic changes and we didn't see any sign we x-ray every set of remains and we didn't see any sign of gunshot wounds but if the bullet doesn't hit bone or isn't retained within the body how would we detect it so no for every burial and this and and of itself is one of our triumphs that he is ideed despite that we could only hold him as a not excluded as a not excluded individual from being a victim and now we know he is a victim it's just yeah I'm still flabbergasted because I only saw the information a few days ago when Allison founded and it's just I got to stop thinking about it okay my second question is the the obviously very painstaking process that were used in the processes that were used in this particular case will they be helpful going forward in examin the other cases out there or is every case different well um they are helpful because we now have a better grasp of how well preserved the individual should be for that section of the cemetery uh my colleague Dr stackle Beck could speak to this better but the their challenges to that location because the city long ago had filled in a stream bed to create more land to bury individuals in and water still travels through there so depending on the burial sometimes it's better worse and and keep in mind we're also looking for individuals who had been burned and so we don't yet know how that will add to the preservation but knowing now what it looks like what to what a level of preservation looks like for that time period 1921 yes it does help um and I have no doubt that we'll find more of them just based on his aspect in in his buried aspect his posture can I add to that a little bit and just yeah because I think this um introduce yourself I'm uh Dr Carrie stackle I'm the state archaeologist of Oklahoma and also the lead archaeologist on our team um but what I would also add is context is so critically important um and so in this particular case so I think you all have Maps um that have been provided so it's not just about finding this one individual it's finding him in relation to the other individuals that we have been examining in this part of the cemetery he is in proximity to barriel 27 who was our first gunshot victim that we um that we identified we haven't identified him in terms of his name but the first uh gunshot victim that we located also not terribly uh far off from burial uh 42 who was another gunshot victim um proximity to the headstones were Ruben Everett and Eddie Lockard um so that's really important and tells us that we're in the right vicinity and but also what's important is the context of his burial specifically the fact that he was buried in a simple wooden casket and that the casket itself was to too small for his remains he was forced to fit into this casket his stature was such that he wouldn't they didn't construct a casket to suit him and his specific size which is typically the case of normal honorific when you're burying an individual even if you're constructing the casket and it's not one that's that's commercially made um and bought from elsewhere but so they forced him into a casket that was too small for his stature they had to bend his legs somewhat at the knee in order to get him to fit his head and his feet both touched either end of the casket again that just speaks to the fact that he was made to fit into a casket that was not really made for him um and so that's something that is one of the characteristics that we do see among some of our other burials that we have exhumed but have not yet yielded indications of trauma that we still consider to be to phoe's phrasing not yet excluded so we know that there are other individuals that are potential candidates who meet some of those same criteria that we continue to be interested in those individuals are continue to be investigated by the IMF team um for their genetic profile and hopefully will yield similar results so I think when we hear the word first we hope he's not the last we hope that Mr Daniel is not the last and we are confident um no pressure IMF but but we are confident that um that there will be others yet to yet to be found as long as we have appropriate um and good um participation from other members of the public I'll add one thing if you don't mind pleas I'm Danny Hellwig I'm the director of laboratory development Inter Mountain forensics on the lab side and um there's a really good question that asked there because you have to realize that this this really hasn't ever been done before so all of this was based on a lot of really good science an amazing team and a lot of Hope but we've been learning through the process and as we have learned and and adapted and adjusted um we we're getting better at it so this is definitely something where we have the experience now on the next one and the one after that and the second part of this and Allison can allude to this is community involvement I we have to thank the City of Tulsa the the community as a whole uh for embracing us and and just letting some strangers into into your life to help this investig we hope this provides some confidence and context and maybe a lot more trust and that we can we can expand upon this because it's just going to get um the process is going to get easier for us mind you it is extraordinarily difficult but easier is better um and and the more commit the more we we have learned and adjust the better the next one will be the community help is essential and we appreciate apprciate it time for two more questions one right here this question is for any anyone and everyone involved in contacting the next that was involved I know that it says that the city's not identifying them at the moment but can you go into any detail regarding kind of the process to contact them and then what information they were providing or what kind of reactions were when you presented them with information uh regarding their genealogy connected to Mr Daniel yes um the genealogy team has been in contact with some of the NEX ofkin before even knowing that they were next ofkin right they were part of a list of a lot of people that we wanted to contact and get um hopefully a DNA reference comparison from their family line to help us narrow in um the record collections and the DNA reference tests all kind of started coming well yeah started kind of coming back at the same time that's why we were in a position to have some of the DNA reference tests already when this record uh was delivered to us this week so in contact with them our team has already been in contact with them we realize now we have placed their family in a position where they're not residents of Tulsa or Oklahoma they live in other states um we've brought this project not to their doorstep but into their lives into their hearts and when it was time to um share with them the news that which happened all very quickly this has all been just this week um when it was time to actually give them the direct news that it was their great uncle uh that was burial 3 and that was going to be um a victim of the Tulsa Race Massacre the City of Tulsa was involved in that Zoom call we' already talked about the we've had lots of conversations with family members about the family in general right that's what we're we've been trying to do is collect the stories um what did you hear handed down where did where did people go where did people travel what were their occupations um can you talk to you know all your cousins um the older people in your community who remembers what so we've already had so many con conversations about their families in general with many of them and I think when we said you know we would like to schedule a a meeting with you in the City of Tulsa I I can't imagine what they must have thought or felt um I think it's shocking news to say the least for the family I think that um well one step that still needs to be done you would think that they would all know each other because they're next of Ken but they do not know each other they're distantly related enough because of the passage of time that that introduction is still yet to come so as a group we know we brought a lot into their lives and that's something as a genealogy team we've talked about that we feel responsibility ility to ease the transition into uh what has now been opened for them thank you a okay we have time for more question right I was looking at Google Earth and comparing it to the math and everything we've known over the years has there been any discussion of some kind of marker or monument put out there to better honor those who are going to be identified or may not even ever be identified but knowing you has happened up no that is absolutely something that our team at the city uh has talked through uh as far as how moving ahead especially we have remains that have not been identified but reinterred how do we properly Mark those uh because whether or not they're a a a tuls race Tulsa Race masac victim uh they they are still important to somebody and we want to make sure that they're properly on so we we've had those discussions as it relates specifically to Mr Daniel though that we just want to support whatever his family wants to do in that regard and I think I I think Allison's point is so well made if try to put yourself in in their shoes uh to have found this out this week uh and to have an ancestor that they did not know what happened to them for the last century plus uh and my message to them is just we are here here to support you and whatever we can do as a city to be of help uh as you decide what you want to do with his remains and to give him that Proper Burial that is so important uh for a family uh we're here to support that well I I really appreciate you all coming out today helping spread the word about this investigation we hope this will lead to more people participating in this search and again I I just cannot say how grateful our city is for these folks who have you're looking at a whole chain of this investigation and and so many folks who aren't even with us anymore who were part of that developing that state report that really brought to light that these Graves existed in the first place um all of them are standing with us today uh and their work made this possible thank you very much great job that was Fant