Title: Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
Author: Dr. Frank L. Douglas
Publisher: Frank Douglas Books
ISBN: 978-1948828703
Genre: Biographies/Black & African American
Pages: 388
Synopsis
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An inspirational and compelling memoir of a young black man who grew up in abject poverty and rose to become one of the world’s pre-eminent scientists in the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Frank L. Douglas was raised in the small South American country of Guyana. Suffering under the weight of poverty, Douglas faced severe childhood trauma, often questioning his place in his family and yearning for acceptance. Despite these obstacles, Douglas excelled academically, showing great promise at school and winning multiple awards.
In 1963, two weeks before Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic March on Washington, twenty-year-old Douglas arrives in the United States as a Fulbright scholar. A curious and motivated young man, Douglas was shocked by the racism he received from white Americans and the cultural prejudice he received from black Americans. Struggling with his faith and identity, Douglas became the master of his own fate through grit, hard work, and the road less travelled. He went on to complete his Ph.D. and M.D. from Cornell University, and a residency in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins.
In his career, Douglas continued to climb the ranks of academia and made significant discoveries in the pharmacology field. He established the Center for Biomedical Innovation at MIT and received the George Beene Foundation Award, GQ Magazine’s Rock Star of Science Award, Black History Maker Award and the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers Lifetime Achievement Award. He has continued to champion the cause of African American students, having never forgotten his own roots in a poverty-ridden, politically conflicted homeland. The meaning of his name—Frank being Celtic for “free man” and Douglas being Scottish for “from a black stream”—has become his personal banner.
Defining Moments of a Free Man from A Black Stream is a brilliant memoir of race, pain, survival, hard work, and one man’s remarkable ability to take control of his own destiny and achieve success. It is a deeply moving story from a powerful new voice who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
About the Author
Dr. Frank L. Douglas grew up in British Guiana with his mother and four siblings. His love of education earned him a Fulbright Scholarship and he came to America during the turbulent years of the 1960s. He worked at Ciba Geigy and Aventis, and was involved in pharmaceutical research for drugs that treat tuberculosis, arthritis, diabetes, seizures, cancer, and pulmonary embolism, among others.
Douglas has received the Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development Director of the Year Award in 2001 and 2004; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers in 2002; the Black History Maker Award in 2007; the Geoffrey Beene Foundation and GQ Magazine Rock Star of Science in 2010; and the Caribbean Heritage Award for Entrepreneurship in 2011
Douglas wrote Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream in honor of all who helped him on his journey.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Author
This autobiography contains life episodes in which I was judged by the color of my skin, as well as, thankfully, moments in which I was judged by the content of my character. At a time when Truth and Values change with whims of the wealthy and powerful, I found that taking the less well-travelled road and having True Grit did more to determine one’s future and ultimately how one will be judged.
The meaning behind the title…
My first name, Frank, means free man or free mason. My last name, Douglas, carries the meaning from a black stream–hence, I am a free man from a black stream. My defining moments are the pivotal events in my life that I remember as if they were yesterday.
–This text refers to the paperback edition.