She was the daughter of Morton, a white factory worker, and Martha Goldsen, a black actress, music teacher, singer and seamstress.
[4] She was encouraged by family and friends to become a writer, but due to her lack of knowledge with the profession, Ford instead pursued the publishing career as "a way to get a foot in the door".
[3] In the same year she graduated, Ford joined Random House's division of children's books as "editorial assistant in training", as part of their "minorities recruitment program.
[5] Around 1975, she met Valerie Flournoy, Phyllis Fogelman and Tom Feelings, who created a workshop "for the few people of color working in publishing in the mid-1970s.
"[4] They eventually founded a group called Black Creators for Children,[5] which would assist African American authors in creating new works by following a set of philosophies.