THE HISTORIC GREENWOOD DISTRICT, TULSA
A Descendant’s Perspective

My grandfather Loyd Reed Rollerson aka ‘Doc Rollerson’ was a pharmacist in the Greenwood District of Tulsa after surviving the massacre of 1921. See him on the cover of the book 'Images of of America: Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District' by Hannibal Johnson, published by Arcadia Publishing. The woman in the picture to the right was likely the part-time book keeper.

This image is housed in the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum donated by Myrtle Rollerson.
You can see reproductions of this image at the Black Wall Street Alliance Foundation and the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa.

My Grandmother, Mrytle (Fegan) Rollerson (b. 1916), speaks about her husband’s, Grandpa Loyd Reed Rollerson, experiences during the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 with Eddie Faye Gates.
Riot on Greenwood is Eddie’s book based on her many interviews. 

Eddie Faye Gates Interviews Myrtle Rollerson

Eddie Faye Gates Interviews descendants, relatives, and survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre 1921.

Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division, Audio Archives 1999.069.01

Transcription of Myrtle Rollerson’s Retelling of Her Husband’s, Loyd Reed Rollerson,
Survival of The Tulsa Race Massacre 1921 by Rae Pleasant.

Eddie Faye Gates: …About the property they owned, what happened to it the day of the riot, how it effected their lives, where they hid during the riot, those kind of things. So, Mrs. Rollerson, thank you for sharing this information with us today. Ok.

Myrtle Rollerson: Lyod Reed Rollerson (b. 1901), my husband, lived with his family at 521 N. Greenwood in a two-story building. They had a grocery store downstairs and rooming house upstairs. There were three girls and a boy (Lyod). And, the riot (1921) was on the West side of Greenwood and 521 is on the East side of Greenwood, so the building was not burned. But, they suffered the fear and everything that went along with it. Reed said he hid in the icebox (refrigerator) and his brother-in-law, at that time was not his brother-in-law his sister’s boyfriend, he hid in the dog house. And, incidentally it (emotionally) fried my brother-in-law so much until he moved out into the country right next to the junior college.

Reed said it was terrifying. His mother was one of the founders of Christ Temple CME Church and it was very traumatic for her because she helped rebuild Christ Temple. Christ Temple was (originally) located on Frankfort at the time. And, it was four years after they rebuilt, they built the Christ Temple that it was burned and, with the excitement of having a new church, and having to sponsor activities to build the new church, she suffered to an extent that one night she was giving a speech at Christ Temple, and fell dead with a heart attack. We felt that all of that came from the trauma of the riot. Incidentally, just a month before she passed away, she lost her daughter (who was hit by a race car as a spectator at a racetrack).

Reed said during those days, he drove a jitney (bus). He didn’t tell me whether or not a jitney was a part of the riot, a part of the aftermath, I imagine it was right along then because he didn’t attend MeHarry Medical College until 1925, he graduated 1925. So, he had a little time left because he was born in 1900, 1901, really. And, so he must have been, oh, 20 by then (the time of the riot). Are there any other questions?

Eddie Faye Gates: I think that about does it…    

Notes: Loyd may have graduated from highschool in 1919 aged 18 and drove a bus around Greenwood District for a few years to raise funds for university. The massacre occurred in 1921, when he was aged 20, which is the same year on his highschool diploma. He may have requested his diploma in 1921 in order to leave for MeHarry’s Medical College in Nashville, TN immediately after the massacre. His diploma might be dated for the year it was requested and not the actual year of his graduation. Another likely explanation is that Loyd’s highschool education was drawn out until aged 20 in order to drive the local bus to support his family financially. -Rae Pleasant