Four Generations At The Rouge

The Ford Rouge Centre is more than a gigantic complex of concrete and cold steel. For almost 80 years, it has been where people come together, share experiences, forge relationships, and become members of an extended family.

“Ford is family to us, and the Rouge is like our home,” said D’Juan Ford, a machine operator in the Rouge’s Dearborn Stamping Plant. D’Juan and his brother Kevin Ford Jr. represent the fourth generation of just one family that points with pride to 76 years of unbroken service at the Rouge, along with more than 200 years of service, company wide and growing.

This “other Ford family”, as one member likes to call it, began in the Rouge in 1924. The founder of this dynasty was Roosevelt Ford, Sr., a young man from a subsistence farm in Mississippi. Roosevelt Ford was drawn to Detroit like so many when he heard that Ford Motor Company was paying $5 a day – more money in a day than a worker could earn in a week in the Deep South.

’COLOUR-BLIND’ COMPANY
And there was another draw: Ford Motor Company had a reputation of being “colour blind,” hiring based entirely on skills. Roosevelt Ford, an African American, hired at the Ford Highland Park Assembly plant as a millwright, a tradesman in an era where most skilled trades barred minorities. After two years in Highland Park, Roosevelt went back home to Mississippi, returning a year later to be re-hired at Ford, this time in the then-newly opened Rouge foundry operation.

Like so many family founders, Roosevelt Ford was a remarkable man. He had 12 children yet reached out to embrace all the children in his Detroit neighbourhood. “We ate in shifts at our house,” son Carl Ford, Sr. recalled. “Not because we had so many kids, but because my father insisted on feeding any child who showed up at mealtime. To pay for it all, he not only worked at Ford, but as a neighbourhood mechanic, raised and bred dogs, and did lots of hunting, not for sport but for meat for the table.”

All of Roosevelt Ford’s seven sons became skilled tradesmen, and four of them made their own careers in the Rouge. One of them, Alvin, like his older brother Roosevelt Jr., graduated from the prestigious Henry Ford Trade School, which was located in the Rouge. “It was a wonderful opportunity,” Alvin said. “Half your time was devoted to apprenticeship, and to the other half high school classes. You graduated with both a high school diploma and a trade.” Graduating from the Henry Ford Trade School in 1950, Alvin went on to serve for the next half century at the Rouge. He became the first African-American electrician supervisor in the Steel Division. Alvin retired in 1990, then after two years, came back to Ford to serve another seven years in the Rouge, retiring again in January 2000.

LIFE ON THE LINE
Alvin’s wife, Rose, also went to work in the Rouge for a couple of years. “I retired from Michigan Bell and our children were grown, so I thought why not get an assembly line job and earn the big bucks?” she said. Rose Ford was offered a job in the office, but insisted on taking assembly work for the higher wages.

“Boy, was it tough!” she remembered. “Long hours and exhausting work. And every once in awhile I’d see Alvin in the plant strolling around. He was a skilled tradesman, so he didn’t know what real work was, and didn’t give me a lot of sympathy.” Rose left the Rouge with a tremendous respect for assembly workers.

“No question, many of the jobs are hard work,” said Herbert Ford, who started on the production line in 1952 before becoming a skilled tradesman. “Over the years, I’ve seen Ford add technology to replace most of the backbreaking work. And, yes, it’s done away with some jobs, but it’s made life a lot easier for everyone else.”

Roosevelt Ford’s admonition to “never stop learning” has echoed down through his family lineage. Third-generation family members went on to college to achieve degrees in engineering and management and moved out from their Rouge heritage into the greater Ford community.

A few even migrated to “the enemy camps.” Two of Roosevelt’s sons went to work for General Motors, one as a security supervisor and another as a toolmaker. And another son, Henry Ford, made his career as a metal model maker at Chrysler (now DaimlerChrysler). And, yes, the Chrysler Henry Ford has a son named Henry Ford II.

FORD TO FORD
William Clay Ford Jr., Ford Motor Company Chairman, heard about this other Ford family, and about a reunion that had been arranged by a television channel. Bill Ford was in Europe on business at the time, yet he sent the family a personal letter. In the letter he said: “When I heard about your family, I thought it was fantastic. With your name being Ford and your long relationship with Ford Motor Company, your family story is certainly one for the history books. “

“This family reunion is the perfect opportunity to celebrate not only your family but also the extended ‘Ford family.’ Judging from the generations of Fords that have worked here, I’m sure you will agree that there is a bond among our employees much like the bond among family members. The feeling is difficult to describe, but I believe your family understands better than most and is living proof of the loyalty and pride we share as colleagues.”

While this family is unique in that their surname is Ford, they are in many respects typical of scores of Rouge families who have served for generations intertwining their own family histories with that of the Rouge.