C is for Colored

by Dr. Larry James Ford

   Dr. Larry James Ford was born September 1, 1951, in Albany, Georgia. In 1956 at the age of four, his family moved to Aberdeen, Maryland, and later to Havre de Grace, Maryland, where he grew up and attended the Havre de Grace Consolidated School, C1, a legally, racially segregated school, from 1957 to 1964. He attended Havre de Grace High School, an integrated school, from 1964 to 1969, graduating as vice president of his class, a lettering member of the football team, and an officer in the National Honor Society.

    He has four siblings, an older sister, Patricia, and three younger, Wayne, Pamela, and Pelbea. Continuing his education, he attended Syracuse University for one year, and then transferred to the Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated in 1973. He then attended the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York City, graduating in 1977. Afterwords, he did an internal medicine residency at the University of California- San Francisco. He began his practice in Georgia in the US Public Health Service and has also practiced in Alaska and California before retiring in 2011.

    Dr. Ford's retirement from medicine came after being diagnosed with systemic mastocytosis, a rare clonal disorder, which affects a white blood cell important to the immune system, affecting multiple organ systems. There is no specific treatment, and the disease has an incidence of 1 in 10,000 people, or a total of 30,000 individuals diagnosed in the U.S. with it.

    One of the most memorable experiences he has had, related to the book, was sitting down with one of his teachers from the Consolidated School, Mrs. Mabel Hart, before starting to write. At the time of the release of the book, she was 104, and had recently published a book of her own. Throughout his professional life and journey, he was able to repeatedly call upon the commonsense knowledge and wisdom imparted by his teachers, which was needed to handle the many challenging situations he would face.

   In 2020, he returned to his hometown, where he completed "C is for Colored," and continues to enjoy his passion for playing music, spending lots of time with his guitars (playing anything slow), reading and honing his photographic skills. He has twin daughters, Lauren and Leslie, and he tries to hang out with his grandchildren, Isabel, Eli, and Karina, whenever possible. They call him "Lolo," and all remember and laugh about him, as being moderately obsessed with anything having to do with mathematics, and the related game of craps.

308 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2023

Reviews

[Jaimes_Mystical_Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

C Is For Colored is an eye opening read as Dr. Larry J. Ford tells his life story. He retells of his schooling experience from going to segregated schools to a racially integrated schooling experience. This book was incredibly well written as well as informative and reading it felt journal-like. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about the subject as well as to those who are looking for a good history read. This truly was an enlightening book.

Thank you the publisher for the gifted book.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to read this book for Black History Month. I am so glad I did! The author is a Harford County, Maryland local who describes his educational journey as a Black person during the 1960's end to segregation. This gives a realistic insight into the integration of schools in Harford County, the county that employed me as a teacher for 30 years. Of special interest to me were the remembrances he shared of people with whom I was familiar. He named names, good and bad. Very well-written, this book will keep your attention even if you're not a local. The Goodreads listing says I read the Kindle edition; no, I bought the paperback book on Amazon and you can, too.

[Larry Sampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book for many reasons. Dr. Larry Ford is from my home town. He was one year ahead of me in school. However our paths never really crossed. We lived in Harford County Maryland in the 1960's and our schools were still segregated although the Supreme Court had ruled against segregation. To hear his stories of going to the "Colored School" while I was going to the "White School" was an education. The locations were familiar and I was familiar with many of the names he mentions in the book. But we grew up seeing it all in very different perspectives. We met on Facebook recently and then he told me about his book he had written. After our schools were finally integrated in Junior High School he went on to become the Vice President of his senior class. His journey is an interesting one and I really enjoyed reading the book. It is difficult to remember this all did happen during our life time. But it's also important to never forget also.

[Bookish_Aly_Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an enlightening and thought-provoking account of Larry’s experiences as an African American student in the 50s and 60s. This book is written almost like a journal, so you get the feel for what Larry personally went through on his journey to medical school. The photos included throughout the book really helped add to the story being told. As someone who wasn’t aware of the depth of the implications of integration in the school system, this was an eye opening read. I highly recommend this one, especially for those who love learning about history.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy of the book.