The Road Taken

About the Book

Roger L. Youmans, MD grew up in Kansas City, Kansas and attended the University of Kansas with a Summerfield and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity for “excellence in scholarship.” He married Mary “Winkie” Stewart after his first year in the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Following his graduation and internship he became a resident in General Surgery, but after one year he took his family with him to Congo where he staffed a rural hospital for six months during the riots that followed Congo’s Independence from Belgium. He completed his surgical residence at the University of Kansas Medical Center, passed his Surgical Boards, Missionary Orientation Course, and studied French and completed the course in Tropical Medicine in the Princess Astrid School of Tropical Medicine in Belgium, with distinction, before returning to Congo with his family under the Board of Missions of the United Methodist Church.

About the Author

Two dramatic years, 1953 and1954, changed the course of Dr. Youmans’ life and the lives of all Americans.

In 1953 Youmans was a twenty year old pre-medical student at the University of Kansas and was the first Caucasian to pledge the Upsilon Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He moved into the fraternity house of the oldest and largest Black fraternity in America, and he lived and learned with his African-American brothers. That same year newspapers across America took notice when a cross was burned on the lawn of the fraternity house. Later that year Youmans was the first Caucasian to address the National Convention of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial discrimination in public schools violated the United States Constitution, and fifteen years later the U. S. Congress finally passed the laws that implemented that decision. Dr. Youmans later became a medical missionary in Congo, and one of his fraternity brothers took his own wife and child to Congo to help him.

More than fifty years later the University of Kansas honored Dr. Youmans with a Distinguished Service Citation conferred by the Chancellor of the University, and the following year he received the Alpha Award of Merit from the National President of Alpha Phi Alpha, and a ten minute standing ovation.

What happened in the Youmans’ family and neighborhood in the thirties and forties that shaped this author’s character and life?

The Road Taken by this child of the Great Depression offers poignant and exciting stories of Youmans’ first nineteen years and his insights into questions that face all young people. The author candidly records his childish and youthful aspirations, failures, and encouragements, and the reader of these often humorous episodes will laugh as he recognizes variations of his own experiences. Young people, and people who are still young in heart, will love this small book of true and unforgettable stories.