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  • Oral History of Joe Thompson
  • David C. Brock (bio)

Joseph Walter Thompson, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1933, was the first person trained as an operator of the 1951 Whirlwind computer at the MIT Digital Computer Laboratory. In this interview, he discusses his early career at MIT running Whirlwind, and then his long employment at RAND/SDC as a programmer and eventual group manager working on the SAGE continental air defense system software. Thompson also discusses his early childhood and also provides insight into his day-to-day life as an African-American working in the early days of computing.

David C. Brock:

Joe, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. I thought we could begin with your full name, birth date, and the city in which you were born.

Joe Thompson:

Okay. Joseph Walter Thompson, January the 10th, 1933. I was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

Brock:

You mentioned that your mother and all of her sisters were in nursing. Is that right?

Thompson:

Right. And as I say, I don’t know whether my mother caught some kind of a problem while being a nurse to cause her to pass away so young. I have an aunt … well, she just passed away, but she used to come and sit with us during the last few years.

Brock:

And what did your father do for work?

Thompson:

Well actually, he worked in the shipyard. I don’t know exactly what he did … loading and stuff. But he also had a side job at a … I know it’s a place where they had meetings and things. And I can’t think of the name of it. But celebrities would come by, and he would serve them. And in fact, my father would often bring things home for us to eat or to drink. And so, that was kind of neat.

Brock:

What were the major activities of your parents and in your household? Was religion a big part of your household, or politics, or music?

Thompson:

It’s hard to say. It wasn’t so much politics. It’s probably music. And I think the Bible was read a lot, but I don’t remember going to church that much. When my mother died, and I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle in Boston, I attended church quite a bit. In fact, I was [End Page 6] confirmed as a Roman Catholic while in Boston. And interesting enough, when I was born, I was Christian, baptized as a Roman Catholic, even though we were Episcopalians. I always thought that was interesting. But in any case, my sister was very, very bright. She actually skipped a year in high school. And she graduated number one from her college.

Brock:

Wow.

Thompson:

She was very bright. And she ended up also as a sort of caregiver. One of the experiences she had was one of the kids there—he seemed to be always hungry and not be taken care of. So, one day, she decided to go visit his family and see why he wasn't getting food or bringing lunch to school. And the family didn’t care. They just didn’t. And she said, “At that point, I just decided to give up being a nurse,” or whatever type of caregiver she was.

Brock:

Were you and your sister big readers when you were young?

Thompson:

She was; me, not so much. I became more of a reader once I went to Boston. It turns out I had had a heart condition … I could not engage in sports or gym classes. And during that time, I did a lot of reading. I love to read. So, that was good.

Brock:

Was it at age ten that your mother passed away?

Thompson:

Yeah, it was at age ten. My sister was eleven.

Brock:

So, that was 1943 then.

Thompson:

Right, right.

Brock:

Had you gone to a neighborhood public school in Baltimore up to that time?

Thompson:

Yeah.

Brock:

Could you talk about what your community was like in Baltimore?

Thompson:

Well, I remember we moved several times. And the last time was … I remember...

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