Are You a N****r or a Doctor?: A Memoir

Dr. Stallworth, the author, was born and reared in Birmingham, Alabama, during the 1940s 50s, and early 60s, a city characterized during those years by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the most segregated city in America. Crossed the Alabama state line for the first time at age 16 in 1962 to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C., and became the first college graduate in his family. The details of Dr. Stallworth's life are evocative of friendships, falling in love, and marriages; and a great variety of occupations ranging from discovering and managing a famous music group todriving a city bus on his first trip to Chicago, to becoming a doctor. His writing style itself is clear and effective, quirky and compelling, especially the description of friendships from early childhood on and falling in love, and the humorous stories. There are sad times described, and traumas and problems, but Dr, Stallworth gives these a full range of emotions and I think the reader really feels what he felt, or close to it. Probably more important, the reader can learn from it.