Oaklawn Files: Cemetery Series Part I of _?
There is an irrevocable sadness to estate sales and cemeteries.
Difficult to describe, impossible to ignore.
One of my favorite people, @alli-hallows-eve, says "In the end your life will be summed up as a dash between two dates", and in a place like Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, OK that is heavy.
Oaklawn Cemetery holds shadows beyond what’s visible. All the marked graves are white, from Tulsa’s segregated past. But in 2020–2021, mass grave excavations here began connecting Oaklawn to the city’s most violent wound — the 1921 Race Massacre. I can’t speak for that history, but I can name that this ground is layered with truths not written on the stones. For more information please read Scott Ellsworth's excellent book, "Death in a Promised Land".
What I will do is share my observations, experiences, and research from my personal exploration of this cemetery and the Tulsa Library archives. This will be a slice of life journey, not rigorous academia.
Hold my hand, let's go look at gravestones!