DNA, Genealogy, and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre with Lisa Fanning

In today’s episode, titled DNA, Genealogy, and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, we will discuss how DNA and historical research are helping identify victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in American history. Through genealogy, genetic testing, and community participation, families and researchers are working together to restore names and identities to individuals whose stories were never fully told. This work reminds us that genealogy is not only about building family trees — it is also about justice, memory, and recognition.

Lisa Fanning, an Indiana native who is a genealogist, genetic genealogist, and family historian. For more than 30 years, she has traced her own family’s roots across the American South and Midwest, developing a deep passion for reconstructing complex family histories. Lisa has contributed to major projects such as the DNA Doe Project and the Tulsa Race Massacre DNA Identification Project. She serves on the Board of the National Genealogical Society and on the leadership team of MAAGI, the Midwestern African American Genealogy Institute. She has presented nationally and internationally, including for PBS and the United Nations. Today she joins us to talk about her work helping identify victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and how DNA is helping restore identities more than one hundred years later.

- Check out information on the burials/surnames/and locations on the City of Tulsa’s webpage at www.cityoftulsa.org/1921Graves   
- Tell us their family story about the Tulsa Race Massacre at www.tulsa1921DNA.org  

 If you have experience in African American genealogy research and are interested in volunteering some of your time to the project, please email us at idteam@tulsa1921dna.org

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