ARA Review by missionpublisher of Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

[missionpublisher]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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If you want to understand "systemic racism" in America read this book. Frank Douglas' story will sensitize anyone who reads the book to the challenges faced by people of color in education, business, and interpersonal relationships. It is a window into the grit it takes to overcome the pain and rejection that nonwhite people face in the United States. Even with superior intellectual gifts and open doors of opportunity the challenges are immense. As a born again Christian he saw the white church in America turn its back on him.

He was born in British Guiana and brought up by a single mother after his father abandoned her. His father wanted nothing to do with Frank. The boy grew up in poverty, but with much love from his mother and extended family. Above all, his family believed in him - knew he had a bright future. This was proven by the successes he had in science, medicine, and business.

As a fifteen year old he committed himself to the values of meaning, wisdom, justice, authenticity, emotional strength, and self-control. His prodigious intelligence won him awards and scholarships, and opened doors to the best schools.

Douglas arrived in the United States in 1963 on a scholarship to Lehigh University as one of the few underclassmen to receive a Fulbright Scholarship. There were only four Blacks at Lehigh in 1963 among three thousand male undergraduates. This was the year of the assassination of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.- and from the first day the young college student had to deal with racism. Nevertheless he did well and was ultimately accepted into medical school at Johns Hopkins. A technician once told him, "Do you know what your name means?" Frank said he did not. "'Frank' means 'free man' and 'Douglas' means from a black stream.'" Frank celebrated his name; even in the radical 1960s he wasn’t tempted to change his given name.

His business career was spent mostly in pharmaceutical research. He was a leading expert at Ciba Geigy and Aventis. At one point he was offered a position at ALCAN but the salary scale offered him was the one used for local workers, not the scale for Canadians - far less than what other professionals were earning. He declined the company's offer and with his declination advised ALCAN to offer equal pay to all employees, no matter their color or ethnic background.

He faced emotional upheavals caused by racism in America but learned to confront and cope with rejection. A psychiatrist once told Frank, "You are not responsible for the misdeeds of others. When someone looks down on you, treats you badly in business because of prejudice - confront your superiors and ask them why you were treated that way, why you weren’t given a position you were up for." He remembered that advice and several times in his career put it to good use. He kept his values and tried to befriend those he worked with.

With all of the currents against this Black man he rose to prominence in the pharmaceutical industry in America and abroad. He became famous for strategies he devised to develop new drugs. At a Drug Discovery Conference in Boston he was chosen to be one of the two major speakers - but he thought he should withdraw. The other speaker had been the first to decipher the human genome. Then, he had an idea: he would lead a team to find procedures to develop drugs to address the misaligned genes and present this. It was a difficult task to develop this new procedure before the conference, but he guided his team with an approach he used frequently, "Focus more on what we can contribute and less on what we can control." In that speech he introduced the concept of Clinical Biology in Industry.

There are places in the book where you can get lost in the weeds of pharmacological terms. The book gets pretty technical at times. But it is worth the effort. I learned a lot, not only about the challenges faced by Black Americans in academia and in industry but also strategies for bringing an idea to fruition.

This is book is a must read for managers, not only for practical learning, or the history of bio-technology, but as a warning. Do not judge someone by their ethnicity or outward appearance. Learn to see their accomplishments and the heart of those with whom you are or may work.

I rate this book 5 out of 5

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