McKinley Thompson Jr.

McKinley William Thompson Jr. (November 8, 1922 – March 8, 2006) was the first African American automotive designer, and he was the first African American Designer to work at the Ford Motor Company. Thompson was a designer on the first generation Ford Bronco, and also was a designer on the first generation Ford Mustang, Ford Thunderbird, and Ford GT40 racing car. His career at the Ford Motor Company spanned 28 years, from 1956 to 1984.

Background McKinley William Thompson Jr. was born in Queens, New York. As a child, he showed great interest in cars. In 1941, Thompson joined the U.S. Army, he served during WWII as an engineering design layout coordinator for the Army Signal Corps. After the war, Thompson worked in the Signal Corps until 1953.

In 1953, he applied to a scholarship competition called From Dream to Drawing Board to?, for the Art Center College of Design that was hosted by Motor Trend magazine. He won first place in the competition and became the first African American to attend the school. In 1962, he was awarded the Citizen of The Year award by the mayor of Detroit, Jerome Cavanaugh.

Death After retiring from Ford in 1984, Thompson moved to Arizona. He died at 83 in Arizona on March 5, 2006 from Parkinson's disease.