SUGAR LAND, Texas About 2.5 years after workers stumbled upon the first skeletal remains during construction of a Fort Bend Independent School District Career and Technical Center, the school district published a 500-page report honoring the Sugar Land 95.Its not speculation, its archeology, a true historical report that documents all of this, said Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Dr. Charles Dupre.
RELATED: Sugar Land 95 reburied, public memorial planned for springThe report includes a roster of 72 African American men who worked and died on Bullhead Convict Labor Camp in the late 1890s and early 1900s, part of a horrific and state-sanctioned prison labor system, who were likely buried in some of the 95 unmarked graves.
The roster includes William Crawford, who records suggest was a 21-year-old married man accused of forgery and was gunned down trying to escape the prison camp.
Researchers have secured funding for the first batch of DNA extractions, officials wrote on the Fort Bend ISD website.
Additional funding will be needed to fund the remaining DNA extractions, analysis, comparisons to existing databases, public outreach, and genealogical studies.Read more here.