My Father Was IBM’s First Black Software Engineer. The Racism He Fought Persists in the High-Tech World Today
Subject
Technology; STEM; Racism
Description
John Stanley Ford, my father, was the first black software engineer in America, hired by IBM in 1946. Passed over for promotions discriminated against in pay, with many inside IBM working to ensure his failure, he still viewed his job as an opportunity of a lifetime. He refused to give up.
Creator
Clyde W. Ford
Source
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-09-20/ibm-nazi-germany-tech-racism-father
Publisher
latimes.com
File

You have read your 5 free records this month
Create a free account to keep reading. It takes a moment, and it helps us keep this archive growing.
- Unlimited recordsEvery story in the archive, with no monthly count.
- Your saved listKeep the records you want to return to in one place.
- The weekly digestNew stories from the United States and across the diaspora, by email if you want it.
Your free records start again on the first of the month. The Local History Index, collections, exhibits and research pages are always open.
About this record
This entry describes and links to someone else's work. Here is how it came into the archive and what we know about the original.
- How it arrived
- Entered by an editor
- Record last revised
- August 3, 2026
Know something about this record?
Corrections, names, dates, places, family and community context, or a link to another record. Everything is reviewed by an editor before it appears, and contributions stay separate from the archive's own description.


