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Robert Ford
Gender:
Male
Ethnicity:
Caucasian
Biographical/Historical note:
Robert Ford, a Greensboro businessman, became a pioneer in the employment of African Americans in Greensboro when he employed a black foreman and North Carolina A&T students in his machine shop during the 1950s. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) took interest and asked Ford to join their Merit Employment Program. He later served as chairman of the AFSC's hearings in Guilford County and chairman of the education committee, which fought for school desegregation. Ford and his wife, both Catholic, also regularly hosted underprivileged children and foreign students in their Greensboro home.