About “Are You a N****r or a Doctor?”: A Memoir
“A Page-Turner” –
Otto E. Stallworth Jr. M.D. M.B.A. shares untold tales from his rich, distinctive, and varied life experiences, starting in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1940s.
His childhood years with friends and neighbors were filled with dangerous adventures and narrow escapes.
During this time, he became aware of several quirks and societal limits relating to race, like when he discovered a White-only water fountain and wanted to compare its flavor to Colored water.
Other major topics in the story include falling in love, losing loved ones, and working as a doctor.
Even discovered an R&B group at a wedding and became their manager (with a partner), which resulted in winning a Grammy for Best New Artist a short time later.
Precise and vivid words are used to portray his reactions, feelings, and observations. You feel as if you are sharing his experiences rather than simply reading about them. You can sense his exhilaration when he talked about being entranced by a woman’s smile and his worry when making a crucial decision while impaired.
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Author Bio:
The natural, captivating way in which Dr. Stallworth narrates his life, beginning in the “Jim Crow” era of Birmingham during the mid-1940s to the 1980s, and his precarious adventures make this memoir an easy read. His narrative writing style has an appealing conversational tone that draws one in.
Through his vivid and enthralling descriptions, the book brings the past to life. You feel as if it has transported you to the past with him.
His characters, no matter how brief the encounter, come to life on the page.
Heartwarming, numbing, entertaining, and informative. I think everyone can relate to his physical evolution from childhood to adolescents, which Dr. Stallworth describes with humor and self-reflection.
By the end of “AreYou”, the reader has a measure of the distance traveled over the years. He shares the good, the bad, and the ugly.
You can learn from it, and once you began reading, it is hard to put down.
This is Dr. Stallworth’s first book since retiring in 2019, after 45 years of medical practice as an anesthesiologist in Los Angeles, and pursued his passion for writing in 2017. I, for one, cannot wait for his next book.
In 2018, Denise Nicholas, award-winning actress and author of acclaimed book “Freshwater Road,” invited him to join her Longwood Writers’ Workshop, where this memoir was conceived, and then delivered December 23, 2022.
In early 2022, he began a non-profit foundation, the Stallworth OhYes! Foundation, which awarded four-year full scholarships to students at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, his alma maters, in August, 2022.
His goal is to award many more scholarships from donations to the Stallworth OhYes! Foundation.
“Be a Rainbow in a Needy Student’s Cloud.”