Harvard Club of New York

This powerful memoir juxtaposes a trailblazing father and his headstrong son as both journey through IBM. In the 1940s the father was handpicked to become IBM’s first black systems engineer. The rebellious son followed his father through the door in 1971, a child of his times. The father helped usher in the digital age, the son was a man of his age – they disagreed on the social movements of the time – from the civil rights movement to the war in Vietnam. This skillful story weaves not only the stories of father and son against the background of the 1970s, but examines the blemishes in IBMs storied past: from involvement with the Nazis and later, with South Africa’s Apartheid government.

This well crafted story is informative and entertaining; it delves into the historic and contemporary intersections of race, history and technology; it outs the inherent bias of humans. It is also a journey of discovery as the son learns how his father challenged the system in covert, lasting ways. Not least – this is a call to action to make tech more diverse, and to stop technology from perpetuating inherent racism in society at large.

Clyde Ford is an accomplished author and 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 has participated in hundreds of media interviews and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, New Dimensions Radio, and National Public Radio.