Synopses & Reviews
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 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. 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.
Review
"In this engaging book...Clyde Ford trains an agile mind and keen powers of observation on both his father's historic role in the early days of computers, and on America's cardinal sin, racism. Think Black will make you think. . .It will also make you wince." William Neukom, founder of the World Justice Project
Review
"Clyde W. Ford has woven a rich tapestry, combining family memoir with the history of a corporation....Think Black is enlightening, insightful, and essential to understanding the impact of corporate racism on individuals." Dr. Julianne Malveaux, author of Surviving and Thriving
Review
"This compelling memoir of a son and his father — two polymaths determined to break corporate barriers without being broken in return — takes us on an unusual journey where the paths of race, relationships, and the social consequences of technology converge." Paula J. Giddings, author of IDA, A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching.
About the Author
Clyde W. Ford was born in NYC. He's the author of thirteen works of fiction and non-fiction. He's also a psychotherapist, an accomplished mythologist, and a sought-after public speaker. In 2006, Ford received the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award in African American fiction. He was named a "Literary Lion" by the King County Library System in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Clyde was voted "Best Writer of Bellingham, Washington" in 2006 and 2007 by readers of the Cascadia Weekly and he received the 2007 Bellingham, Washington Mayor's Arts Award in Literature. Ford is currently a speaker for Humanities Washington, an affiliate of the NEA, where he presents a program entitled, "Let's Talk About Race," around the state. Clyde has participated in hundreds of media interviews and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, New Dimensions Radio, and National Public Radio. He lives in Bellingham, Washington where he writes aboard his 30-foot trawler, and cruises the waters of the Inside Passage.