Think black

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Think black

Title:

Think black

Author:

Ford, Clyde W., author.

ISBN:

9780062890566

9780062890573

Edition:

1st ed.

Physical Description:

xii, 285 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Contents:

First days -- A sacrificial pawn -- The bones of the machine -- The book of changes -- Voices of the dead -- To speak of rivers -- Honeypot traps -- Twice as hard -- The arrangement -- Doing small things in a great way -- Covert ops -- The king is dead -- Clandestine service -- A mass shooting at IBM -- The egg -- Leaving -- Long walks -- Epilogue: The words of a poet.

Personal Subject:

Ford, John Stanley, 1919-2000.

Ford, Clyde W.-Family.

Corporate Subject:

International Business Machines Corporation -- Employees -- Biography.

International Business Machines Corporation -- History -- 20th century.

Subject Term:

African American engineers -- United States -- Biography.

Engineers -- United States -- Biography.

Software engineering -- United States -- History -- 20th century.

Discrimination in employment -- United States -- History -- 20th century.

Fathers and sons -- United States -- Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Summary:

In 1946, John Stanley Ford was hired as the IBM's first black software engineer. But many of the company's white employees refused to accept a black colleague and did everything in their power to humiliate, subvert, and undermine Ford. Yet Ford would not quit, recognizing that he had an obligation to his race as a "first." Instead, he comported himself with dignity and professionalism, and relied on his community to succeed. While Ford remained at IBM, it came at great emotional cost to himself and his family, especially his son, Clyde. Overlooked for promotions he deserved, the embittered Ford began blaming his fate on his skin color, which painfully divided him and Clyde, who followed him to IBM two decades later. From his first day of work, Clyde made clear he was different. Only IBM hadn't changed. As he, too, experienced the same institutional racism, Clyde began to better understand the subtle yet daring ways his father had fought back. It is a story of how a son came to appreciate his father and the sacrifices he made. --

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	921 FORD	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	921 FORD	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wildwood Library (Mahtomedi)	921 FORD	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"Powerful memoir. . .Ford's thought-provoking narrative tells the story of African-American pride and perseverance."

-Publisher's Weekly (Starred)

"A masterful storyteller, Ford interweaves his personal story with the backdrop of the social movements unfolding at that time, providing a revealing insider's view of the tech industry. . . simultaneously informative and entertaining. . . A powerful, engrossing look at race and technology."

-Kirkus Review (Starred)

In this thought-provoking and heartbreaking memoir, an award-winning writer tells the story of his father, John Stanley Ford, the first black software engineer at IBM, revealing how racism insidiously affected his father's view of himself and their relationship.

In 1947, Thomas J. Watson set out to find the best and brightest minds for IBM. At City College he met young accounting student John Stanley Ford and hired him to become IBM's first black software engineer. But not all of the company's white employees refused to accept a black colleague and did everything in their power to humiliate, subvert, and undermine Ford.

Yet Ford would not quit. Viewing the job as the opportunity of a lifetime, he comported himself with dignity and professionalism, and relied on his community and his "street smarts" to succeed. He did not know that his hiring was meant to distract from IBM's dubious business practices, including its involvement in the Holocaust, eugenics, and apartheid.

While Ford remained at IBM, it came at great emotional cost to himself and his family, especially his son Clyde. Overlooked for promotions he deserved, the embittered Ford began blaming his fate on his skin color and the notion that darker-skinned people like him were less intelligent and less capable--beliefs that painfully divided him and Clyde, who followed him to IBM two decades later.

From his first day of work--with his wide-lapelled suit, bright red turtleneck, and huge afro--Clyde made clear he was different. Only IBM hadn't changed. As he, too, experienced the same institutional racism, Clyde began to better understand the subtle yet daring ways his father had fought back.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this powerful memoir, Ford (Whiskey Gulf) tells the story of his father's tenure as IBM's first black systems engineer. Though he was recruited in 1947 by the company's founder, Thomas J. Watson Sr., John Stanley Ford endured 25 years of racism from his white coworkers, who repeatedly tried to get him fired. "Like Robinson, my father had also stepped into a role elevating him as a symbol much larger than his individual self," Ford writes. Writing with a potent sense of outrage, Ford portrays his father as more conciliatory than he would have been when he himself was hired by IBM in 1971 and brought with him an African nationalist pride. Throughout, Ford details IBM's racist history supporting both the Nazis and apartheid, and how his father, in his stoicism, fought back against the company's racism (he obtained a document that contained answers to questions on IBM's entry exam and gave it to black applicants). Ford came to see his father as a fighter who made his life as a black man better. "Whenever I hear the blips and beeps, the whines and whirs of a computer," Ford writes, "I recall what I learned from my father about these machines, about being a man who's Black, and about being first." Ford's thought-provoking narrative tells the story of African-American pride and perseverance. (Sept.)

Booklist Review

Award-winning writer and public speaker Ford describes the difference between working for IBM if one started just after WWII, as his father, John Stanley Ford, the company's first African American software engineer, did, versus after the civil rights movement, as Ford did. In his memoir, Ford sketches his parents' divorce and remarriage, and notes his father's insistence that he and his sister learn both fine arts and software programming principles, helping the author become proud and ambitious. As he seeks to contextualize his father's and his own time as minority hires at IBM, Ford includes too few fully fleshed-out personal anecdotes among footnoted summaries of other books about IBM and its famed chair, Thomas J. Watson, who personally hired the author's father. Ford contrasts Watson's bringing his father onboard with IBM's involvement with such racist horrors as eugenics, the Holocaust, and apartheid. Less convincingly presented are Ford's views on how the atmosphere at IBM impacted his father or himself and the dynamics of institutional racism that ""thinking black"" apparently helped them fend off.--Sean Chambers Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Review

A memoir/social history of a trailblazing father, his headstrong son, and their struggles with racism in the tech industry.In 1971, Ford (Whiskey Gulf, 2009, etc.) followed his pioneering father's footsteps through the doors of IBM. Nearly three decades earlier, the elder Ford had become the company's first black systems engineer, handpicked by the president and founder of the company, Thomas J. Watson Sr. But where his father was a conformist, seemingly unwilling to challenge the racism at the ultraconservative company, the rebellious author, then 19, showed up for work with "a ballooned Afro, pork chop sideburns [and] a blue zoot suit with red pinstripes." Ford chronicles both his and his father's careers, from the dawn of the digital age that his father's expertise helped usher in. Frequently at odds, the two men disagreed about Clyde's future, the war in Vietnam, and the civil rights movement. A masterful storyteller, Ford interweaves his personal story with the backdrop of the social movements unfolding at that time, providing a revealing insider's view of the tech industry. IBM's storied past is not without blemish. Ford details the company's involvement with the Nazis during the Holocaust and with the South African government under apartheid. Whether recounting the domestic drama that played out between his parents or how his father taught him to program IBM's first computer as a kid, Ford provides a simultaneously informative and entertaining narrative. He delves into historical and contemporary intersections of race, history, and technology to show that technical advancements are never completely bias-free because they are driven by humans, who are inherently biased. Ultimately, Ford learned that his father did challenge the system at IBM in covert but lasting ways. He also gives a call to action to readers to challenge the current lack of diversity in tech as well as the racism that technology is used to perpetuate in society at large.A powerful, engrossing look at race and technology. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

This memoir intersperses stories from Ford's (The Hero with an African Face) experiences growing up as a young black man in the 1960s and memories of his father, John Stanley Ford, the first black software engineer at IBM, with reflections and analysis on the intersections of race, prejudice, and technology. Hired in 1946, John Stanley faced biases at work and struggled with misguided beliefs about the relationship between skin color and intelligence. He began teaching his son computer programming and advanced mathematics when Ford was young. Ford, who later worked briefly at IBM, points out that science, math, and technology aren't value free; that their applications are often predicated on exploitation and prejudice. He describes companies using positive diversity history for PR benefit while ignoring incidences of discrimination. He further examines the ways supposedly neutral technologies have been put to nefarious purposes by those seeking racial purity and reviews how internet search results can be manipulated and misunderstood, noting the prejudice ramifications of algorithms used for job screening and policing. VERDICT Recommended for readers interested in histories of computing and business, and black history, especially regarding STEM.--Monica Howell, Northwestern Health Sciences Univ. Lib., Bloomington, MN

Author's Note	p. xi
1 First Days	p. 1
2 A Sacrificial Pawn	p. 21
3 The Bones of the Machine	p. 33
4 The Book of Changes	p. 45
5 Voices of the Dead	p. 59
6 To Speak of Rivers	p. 75
7 Honeypot Traps	p. 91
8 Twice as Hard	p. 103
9 The Arrangement	p. 125
10 Doing Small Things in a Great Way	p. 139
11 Covert Ops	p. 155
12 The King Is Dead	p. 185
13 Clandestine Service	p. 203
14 A Mass Shooting at IBM	p. 217
15 The Egg	p. 229
16 Leaving	p. 249
17 Long Walks	p. 259
Epilogue: The Words of a Poet	p. 263
Acknowledgments	p. 265
Notes	p. 269

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

Kirkus Review

Library Journal Review

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