Tulsa officials not only named a victim in their massacre investigation for the first time, but also put a face to the story thanks to DNA. 

George Melvin Gillespie, who was buried in a simple wooden casket more than a century ago, now anchors a new push to find the truth and justice.  Officials also identified more massacre victims. 

“We have five individuals at Oaklawn Cemetery that were victims of multiple gunshot wounds, and another that was a victim of one gunshot wound  What this tells us is that we’re in the right place, and we’re getting closer and closer to the truth,” Mayor Monroe Nichols said at yesterday’s press conference.

More burials identified at Oaklawn in Massacre investigation.

Research and DNA testing identified the remains marked Burial 180 as George Melvin Gillespie, a middle-aged Black man born in 1881. He was buried in a simple wooden casket and did not show any trauma to his body. Officials don’t know what killed him, but said he could still be a victim. 

They know for certain that the first identified case didn’t show trauma, either “This is the first time we’ve been able to put a face to a name. This is groundbreaking, and we’re just so incredibly thankful for his family for their involvement in this work,” Nichols said.

Records show Gillispie was last seen alive in December 1920 in Payne County, Oklahoma. His wife remarried in 1924 and said he was deceased. 

His descendants in Oklahoma City have been notified of the discovery.

The city is now working with Gillispie’s family to determine what to do with his remains. That could include a new reburial or memorialization.

New massacre victim identified through records 

Officials also confirmed James Goings [Goins, or Gowens] as a victim of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Officials have not yet identified his burial location, but archives of the Veterans Administration contain a letter written soon after the massacre. The letter says James Goings was killed during the massacre. A second letter from his sister in the 1930s verified the date of death as June 1, 1921.

A 1921 letter identifies U.S. Army veteran James Goings as killed “in the recent disturbances”—a clear reference to the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Two letters confirm U.S. Army veteran James Goings was killed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, offering new evidence in the investigation.

The city is asking anyone with ties to the Goings, Goins, or Gowens surnames to reach out to the city’s genealogy team. They are particularly seeking relatives with connections to Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Second Tulsa massacre victim identified through research 

“These individuals were not just buried—they were discarded. “Yet every piece of evidence recovered brings us closer to the truth, to dignity, and to justice,” said Dr. Kary Stackelbeck. She is Oklahoma’s state archaeologist and is leading the city’s search for mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race

Massacre.Stackelbeck is leading the archaeological team at Oak Lawn Cemetery.

Researchers there are cataloging burials and supervising excavations. They are also working closely with forensic anthropologists to dig up and analyze remains believed to be massacre victims.

Researchers and experts working with the city also confirmed four additional victims based on death certificates, Red Cross reports and probate records:

• John White, who died from gunshot wounds on June 1, 1921 and was buried at Oaklawn Cemetery, according to a 1925 death certificate.

• Ella Houston, also known as Ella Morris or Morrison, was listed in a Red Cross report as a massacre casualty. 

Her death certificate cites septicemia from a miscarriage.

• James Miller, also known as Joe or Joseph, was identified as a massacre victim in a 1921 probate record.  His birth name was James Askew.