The remains of a teenager killed in the Tulsa Race Massacre 103 years ago have been identified by genealogists as a young World War I veteran from Georgia.
C.L. Daniel, a young man whose exact age is unknown, was killed in 1921 when the vibrant Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as Black Wall Street, was destroyed by a white mob seeking to erase decades of black history. He was one of hundreds of people killed when the fire was set on fire. And success.
Daniel, a native of Newman, Georgia, was driving through Tulsa to return home to his mother when the riots broke out.
He served in World War I, was wounded and was honorably discharged.
In the decades since then, identification efforts have accidentally linked long-lost relatives across state lines.
“In August 2023, I received an email with the names of my grandparents and parents. It was a letter saying we might be connected to the Tulsa Race Massacre,” said Angela, born and raised in Newnan.・Poythress said. FOX5 Atlanta.
Forensic teams were working tirelessly to trace the victim's relatives, including those traced back to Daniel.
FOX 5 Atlanta anchor Alex Whitler stepped up efforts by connecting potential callers to his team for further DNA testing for confirmation. At the time, they were specifically looking for the last names Daniel, Meriwether, Bohannon, and Bourne.
Andrew Poythress had already undergone a DNA test before the forensic team arrived. He turned out to be a “perfect match” for Daniel.
However, there were some favorable matches outside of Georgia.
“They were trying to contact some 'Stacey Daniels'. My grandfather is Stacey Daniels. That's what led them to me,” said Stacey “Daniels,” a woman from Florida. '' Brown told the magazine.
The match confirmed that Daniel Brown and Mr. and Mrs. Posres were cousins, and Daniel was his uncle.
They were all able to trace their ancestry back to Amanda Meriwether, Daniel's widow and mother of seven children. She tried to get confirmation of her son's death and compensation for his discharge from the hospital, but never heard anything.
“He wrote a letter to the Veterans Administration saying, “I want to go home.'' I need help getting back to my mother. She needs me.'' He has a forwarding address in Wyoming. That's where he went next before he was killed in a racial genocide,” Angela told the magazine.
Daniel was officially buried in the fall in a ceremony hosted by former Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum. He flew out all of Daniel's remaining descendants and gave the veteran a proper rest after more than a century.
They hope to eventually move Daniel's remains to the cemetery where his parents are buried, but the site has been mismanaged for years, the terrain is unstable and it is filled with caved-in headstones. It remains as it was.
So the descendants have banded together for yet another project, striving to renovate the dilapidated cemetery in hopes of returning Daniel to his family forever.
“Don't worry, grandpa. We're going to make it right,” Andrew told the outlet, looking down at the overgrown grave.
Forensic teams are continuing to identify more victims of the massacre and are searching for families linked to the massacre in Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina and Texas. listed name.
