(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Time now for StoryCorps. This week we hear from their Brightness in Black project and a story from the Motor City. Emeline King was the first Black woman to design cars for Ford. It was a passion she inherited from her father, Earnest, who also worked at Ford. Earnest brought designs to life, making the fiberglass molds that became cars. Emeline told her sister-in-law the story of the first time he brought her to work.
EMELINE KING: Dad took me to the company Christmas party. We came to a blue door. And the closer I got to it, I smelled clay. Dad told me, behind those doors are men. And they are car designers, and the clay that you smell is the cars that they make. And after I left there, I said I'm going to be a car designer, designing cars with you, Dad. And so I began drawing cars. I was only 11.
MICHELLE WILLIAMS-KING: And you wasn't good at first.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS-KING: But you never quit.
KING: And when I was hired, my desk was behind the blue doors. The first car that I designed was the '89 Thunderbird. And I saw the car on the road. I was so excited. I was yelling out, hey, lady, I designed the car you're riding.
WILLIAMS-KING: (Laughter).
KING: I was able to design the 1994 Mustang. And one day at work, Dad had the biggest smile on his face. And one of his coworkers, they said, Ernie, what are you working on? And he said, I'm working on my daughter's design. Several years later, Ford had to do downsizing, and I was let go. I waited a good two to three weeks before I got enough nerve to tell my father.
He said, Emeline, everyone will see that this Black girl out of Detroit, the Motor City, was able to have her place in history. You know, we were in competition, collecting model cars. And after Dad had passed, I came across this big box. Dad had ordered about 20 of the Mustang Mach III, the car that I designed. Dad taught me to never let anyone tell you what you can't become because you are a girl. I feel in my heart he is proud of his little girl. And he opened that door.
(SOUNDBITE OF JACK TYSON-CHARLES SONG, "WEIGHT OF THE WORLD")
MARTÍNEZ: That was Emeline King and her sister-in-law, Michelle Williams-King, for StoryCorps. In 2024, King received the presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for her groundbreaking career. And their conversation is archived at the Library of Congress.
(SOUNDBITE OF JACK TYSON-CHARLES SONG, "WEIGHT OF THE WORLD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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