The five paths to having DNA compared with unidentified remains in the 1921 Graves Investigation project. View the full infographic at www.tulsa1921dna.org.
Trust is hard to come by in any situation, but especially for those who have had their trust broken in the past or on a repeated basis. On May 31, 1921, Black residents of Tulsa trusted law enforcement to protect them from a white mob. And although some did, others did the exact opposite. Accounts from that day allege some law enforcement personnel took part in the air attacks and firebombing that killed hundreds and decimated Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood.
Now, 101 years later, forensic scientists and researchers are asking descendants of those killed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre to submit their DNA to a database that can be accessed by law enforcement officials.
Danny Hellwig and Alison Wilde at Intermountain Forensics understand what a huge ask that is, and are doing everything they can to apply education and respect to the process.
Early this year, the City of Tulsa awarded a grant to Intermountain Forensics (IMF) to help identify exhumed bodies thought to be associated with the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The only way to identify the century-old remains is through DNA, specifically genetic genealogy.
But to make a DNA-based match and build out a family tree, Wilde, the genealogy case manager for the project, and her team first need genetic data from modern-day descendants.
For some in Tulsa, that created concerns.
“You can’t underestimate the dangers [of submitting DNA]. The only people being asked to donate their DNA are the descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre. It was a race massacre. Therefore, the descendants are all Black,” Eric Miller, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told WIRED.
Miller is an attorney for Justice for Greenwood, a Tulsa-based nonprofit that is seeking reparations for the survivors and descendants of the massacre. While not directly involved in the 1921 Graves Investigation project, Justice for Greenwood recently hosted an online town hall to discuss their privacy concerns.
Those privacy concerns are valid, which is part of the reason Wilde—IMF’s genealogy case manager on the project—and her team are working so hard to ensure everyone understands their options and are comfortable with their level of participation.
“As a genealogy team we will do the best job we can with what we are provided and don’t want anyone to participate beyond their comfort level,” Wilde said during an oversight meeting update held Tuesday evening.
WIP: DNA samples and processing
During the years-long 1921 Graves Investigation, forensic anthropologists exhumed 19 human remains from Oaklawn cemetery thought to be victims of the massacre. Before reburying the bodies, they removed femurs and teeth from 14 victims.
Thus far, only two sets of remains have yielded enough DNA to possibly identify the buried. Hellwig, the director of IMF, said those two “green” samples yielded about 600 picograms each, and should be ready to run in the coming month.
Now, he and his team are working to combine extracts to maximize DNA yield on what they consider “red, orange and yellow” samples. Hellwig says they are consulting with partners such as VUMC Technologies for Advanced Genomics, Astrea Forensics, and Illumina to optimize ancient DNA technologies. Even though 101-year-old samples are nowhere near ancient, the goal for each is the same—maximize DNA yield to the utmost. Hellwig’s target yield for the non-green samples is 500 picograms.
Genealogy gathering and privacy concerns
Although Wilde’s genealogy work doesn’t typically begin until DNA is processed, she said her team has already completed hundreds of hours of preliminary work “due to the uniqueness of the project.”
Part of that work was the creation of a process to accept information from community members, including multiple “paths” for participation at any and all comfort levels.
IMF is asking the Tulsa and former Greenwood communities for stories and family trees. They say have already received dozens and—importantly—70% of information donors have already taken existing consumer DNA tests.
“A good portion already uploaded their data to one of two genetic genealogy databases [GEDmatch and FTNDA] we will be using, so they were already being included for automatic comparison and grouping,” said Wilde. “There is a high degree of interest from the remaining 30% in taking a DNA test, and we are offering free kits to descendants and relatives.”
Wilde’s team created an 11-minute step-by-step video showing how to navigate GEDmatch upload and privacy settings. They also created an extensive infographic featuring five different paths for DNA comparison to unidentified remains in the 1921 Graves Investigation.
From left to right, the paths become less private. For example, Path A is a DNA test at Ancestry with no relative matching, and no upload to GEDmatch. In this case, the DNA file is emailed directly to IMF. The same is true of Path B, although this one opts the consumer in to relative matching, but the DNA file is still sent only to IMF. Paths C and D are similar with relative matching and upload to GEDmatch, but Path C opts consumer DNA into comparison with human remains only, while Path D opts into comparison with both human remains and crime scene DNA. Path E is the most extensive with a DNA test at FTDNA with relative matching and opting in to comparison to human remains and crime scene DNA, but no upload to GEDmatch.
The easy-to-read and digest infographic featuring green checkmarks and red x’s is a comprehensive educational source regarding privacy concerns. Wilde also encouraged Tulsa community members to reach out to her team, who she said is dedicated to working with anyone connected to the massacre.
In October, the team plans to move from information gathering and preliminary work to investigative genetic genealogy. From there, it’s anyone’s guess as to how long a possible identification will take.
“Unidentified remains projects take days, weeks, months or years depending upon the closeness of DNA matches, but this pro-bono genealogy team is committed to finding answers no matter how long it takes,” said Wilde.