âI work with the dead. But this can help the livingâ: the anthropologist investigating the Tulsa race massacre âI am here to serveâ ... Phoebe Stubblefield in her lab in Florida. Photograph: John Jernigan/University of Florida The 1921 attack was one of the worst episodes of racist violence in US history, with as many as 300 Black people killed. Now Phoebe Stubblefield, a descendent of survivors, is helping to recover the bodies Thu 8 Jul 2021 01.00 EDT Phoebe Stubblefieldâs parents were born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She spent summers there as a child. Yet she did not hear about the Tulsa race massacre until she was nearly 30. The event in 1921, which was shrouded in secrecy for decades, was one of the worst episodes of racist violence in US history; hundreds of people were killed in the racially motivated attack on a peaceful, prosperous Black community.