Y'all--
I just want to say:
You use fresh okra. Rinse, pat dry, slice. Most people discard the tops.
Slice fairly thinly, maybe a quarter to a half inch medallions.
Dredge the sliced okra in seasoned cornmeal (i.e., cornmeal with a dash of salt).
Fry in a heavy iron skillet. Oil should be heated before adding the okra. Stir every few minutes or so. Don't let it brown too much on one side before the top has been turned. IOW, reasonably even browning.
Here is the critical part. Okra is done not just when the cornmeal has browned--that's a few seconds or minutes too soon--but when the okra appears to shrink slightly.
Drain on paper towels if you prefer.
The okra should be dry inside, never slimy. If the latter, you didn't cook it long enough.

Correcting an earlier post as to blackeyed peas as an accompaniment. The preferred peas are purple hull peas. Blackeyes will work, butterbeans will (more or less) work, but homeshelled purple hulls are the best. (No one has the time to shell these, of course, and they couldn't even be procured unless you live in the South and are at a farmer's market, I suppose. I am speaking theoretically. In practice I just open a can of blackeyes.)

Don't even try any of this unless you can also serve sliced tomatoes.

Addendum: Okra can also be used in gumbos, more or less interchangeably with file (diacritical mark?). Gumbo is probably more common in Louisiana (southern Louisiana, not northern) than in other parts of the South or was at one time.

Okra boiled with tomatoes? I've never tried it though I've seen it canned, on grocery shelves.

If okra were always boiled, I can see why many or most people would dislike it intensely. But fried until dry, per above, it is entirely different. Even then, I suppose it is and will remain a regional preference. But fried okra is not even remotely like boiled okra.

ETA: Cooking temperature should be medium to medium-medium-high. Low frying temperature would result in soggy okra. High temperature would brown the outside too soon before the inside had cooked. I don't know if type of cooking oil matters. So long as it doesn't add a taste, any ought to do. We use canola, but Crisco is authentic, at least back for one or two generations or so.

Edited again. Some people mix half flour and half cornmeal plus a bit of salt. That works too, some families one preference, others the other. I've used both versions. And some people (such as my husband) use neither, just the okra fried in just enough oil, a tablespoon or so, to keep it from sticking to the skillet.