Think Black: A Memoir

"The story of America's first Black engineer, his revolutionary son, and the corporation that destroyed their relationship"-- "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." --