The Department of Justice is providing technical assistance to the Jackson Police Department and Hinds County Coroner’s Office in Mississippi to improve next-of-kin death notifications following controversies over missing loved ones buried in unmarked graves. This assistance, under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, aims to ensure timely and trauma-informed notifications that comply with federal civil rights law. The move comes after national scrutiny over the handling of several cases, including the burial of Dexter Wade, who was struck by an off-duty officer and left unidentified for months before being buried in an unmarked grave. The DOJ's assistance will involve examining police practices and providing policy recommendations and training on locating next-of-kin.
A monument has been unveiled at the Gallatin City Cemetery in Tennessee to honor the more than 500 African Americans buried in unmarked graves. The cemetery, established in 1814, was segregated, and many Black residents were buried in the back. The monument was made possible through a donation from Volunteer State Bank and the use of ground penetrating radar to locate the graves. The Friends of the Gallatin City Cemetery, a group dedicated to maintaining the cemetery, organized the unveiling and continue to raise funds for preservation efforts.
Investigators have discovered 19 surnames that may be connected to remains excavated from a Tulsa cemetery, bringing them closer to identifying victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Although the six bodies associated with the names are not confirmed massacre victims, identifying them would provide a possible roadmap to the most likely areas of the cemetery to search for victims. Most historians estimate the death toll to be between 75 and 300, and many of the victims were buried in unmarked graves, their locations never recorded.
