A Black Physician's Story

This book chronicles the successful struggle of Douglas Conner to escape poverty and to provide advancement not only for himself but also for impoverished and oppressed blacks in his home state of Mississippi. In this poignant autobiography Conner tells of having to overcome the code that taught that blackness and subordination were interchangeable, though he never accepted it. His goal of becoming a physician provided motivation for continued hope. When he later attended Alcorn State University and then traveled north to Connecticut and Detroit and still later when he attended the Army's first integrated classes during World War II, he began to realize that his dream was possible. In 1950 he achieved it when he graduated from Howard University as a medical doctor. Thereafter he established his practice in Starkville, Mississippi and devoted himself to improving life for countless people. He provided leadership in the state's Democratic party and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and was instrumental in leading many blacks to the voting booths and in battling for the desegregation of schools and businesses. In the foreword to this book Aaron Henry, Dr. Conner's friend of many years, provides insights into this black physician's importance and into their common goals during the civil rights movement. For all readers this book tells what it was like to be a black Mississippian during the Jim Crow era and in the time of desegregation. All can learn from it. Douglas L. Conner (deceased) was a physician in Starkville, Mississippi and a civil rights activist. John F. Marszalek is Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Mississippi State University. Aaron Henry (deceased) was a pharmacist in Clarksdale, Mississippi and a civil rights activist.