As one of the descendants recently interviewed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Michael Eugene Penny still remembers his grandfather vividly telling him the story of how he survived and fought to protect his family during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The U.S. Department of Justice began an advanced probe into the investigation as part of the Emmett Till Cold Case Program, which investigates racially-motivated murders that happened before 1980.

The survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre want the individuals who carried out the violence “to be identified,” an attorney representing them said Thursday, days after the Department of Justice began interviewing survivors and descendants as part of the first-ever federal probe into the Oklahoma massacre.

U.S. Department of Justice officials recently visited Tulsa's Greenwood district to interview survivors and descendants and gather evidence at the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre site.