Last week we brought you the story of Elliott Hall, an accomplished attorney and second-generation Ford employee who became the company’s first Black vice president decades after his father relocated from the South to work for Ford’s famous $5 workday in the 1910s. Today, we’re looking back at the career of Levi Jackson, who was hired in 1950 and later became Ford’s first Black executive.
Following an exceptional college football career in which he broke racial barriers as the first Black player and captain at Yale, Jackson declined offers to play professionally. Instead, he played a critical role in labor relations, public relations and urban relations at Ford, where he displayed a unique ability to relate to others during his 33-year career. He was instrumental in initiating minority employment programs, minority dealer development and minority supplier programs for the company.
Henry Ford II counted Jackson among his closest friends and Jackson helped shape a new direction for Ford in regard to civil rights and opportunity after the 1967 civil disturbances in Detroit. Jackson created a plan which led to the creation of the Ford Minorities Hiring Program. Among other benefits, the program offered job candidates an advance on wages to help them to prepare for their jobs and even provided bus service from Detroit to the Rouge Complex in Dearborn. Jackson also counseled municipal and private agencies on hiring and training disadvantaged young people as part of his role with New Detroit Inc. In 1968, he was recognized with the Ford Citizen of the Year Award, the company’s highest honor for community service.
Later, Jackson was instrumental in establishing minority development for Ford dealers and suppliers and encouraged other companies to increase minority hiring and the size of their contracts with minority-owned businesses. He also launched a federally-financed program to train disadvantaged people to become dealer mechanics.
Jackson was appointed manager of Urban Affairs for Ford’s Civic Affairs Office in 1973, where he initiated Ford’s first outreach programs with community organizations, such as the NAACP, National Urban League and Hispanic groups. He was appointed by U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson as chairman of the National Selective Service Appeal Board. He also served on the board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the American Red Cross, the National Council on Alcoholism, and numerous hospital and children’s organizations in Detroit.
“History may remember Levi Jackson as a great Black athlete and pioneering civil rights executive, but to those who knew him, Levi Jackson was someone who genuinely cared about every person he met, regardless of race or social status,” Executive Chair Bill Ford said in a Ford-issued obituary upon Jackson’s death in 2000 at age 74.
Jackson went out in style upon his retirement in 1982. More than 400 people reportedly attended his retirement party in the executive dining room at World Headquarters, including Henry Ford II, then-CEO Phillip Caldwell and the entire Ford Motor Company Board of Directors. Broadcaster Howard Cosell even sent Jackson a pre-recorded message.
The night also included a congratulatory phone call from then-U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush. Known for his humor, Jackson suggested Bush was calling collect as the reason for the slight delay in the connection. He got in at least one more quip that evening, saying if he had known everyone was going to make such a big deal about him, he would’ve asked for a larger office during his career.
Despite his retirement, Jackson continued receiving accolades. In 1988, he earned the Ford Employee Black Heritage Award.
“At Ford, we talk a lot about the importance of teams, sometimes without really understanding what that actually means,” Bill Ford said. “Levi Jackson's life was the clearest expression of a team player, who played honorably and admirably, and accomplished much. Ford Motor Company is truly proud to have had such a man on our team.”
