Ford was elected as a county squire from 1888 to 1900. N. J. Ford ran for the Tennessee House in 1966 but was not elected. Harold Ford graduated from Geeter High School in 1963, received his B.S. degree from Tennessee State University in Nashville in 1967 and did graduate work there for one year. He is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated.He received a mortuary science degree from John A. Gupton College of Nashville in 1969, and worked in the family business as a mortician from 1969 until 1974. In 1982, he earned a Master of Business Administration from Howard University. Political career State legislature Ford was able to use his family's deep roots in Memphis to garner support within the affluent black community for his first run for office. He also ran an organized campaign and was able to take advantage of the increase in black voters that followed the Voting Rights Act. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1970, becoming one of its youngest members and one of only a few African Americans to have served in the Tennessee General Assembly to that point in the 20th century. He was made majority whip in his first term, and chaired a state house committee on utility rates and practices. He was a delegate to Democratic State Convention and to the quadrennial Democratic National Conventions from 1972 through 1996. U.S. House of Representatives In 1974, after two terms in the Tennessee legislature, he ran for the Democratic nomination for the Memphis-based 8th U.S. Congressional district, easily beating three opponents. He faced four-term Republican incumbent Dan Kuykendall in the general election. At that time, the district still had a white majority, though the 1970 round of redistricting by the Tennessee legislature had redrawn the 8th to include more African-American voters. Ford ran on a bipartisan platform emphasizing economic development to attract both black and white voters. He waged a large and well organized get-out-the-vote campaign using paid workers, volunteers and his own considerable energy, and received support from black churches and celebrities. He was also able to take advantage of post Watergate dissatisfaction with the Republican Party. When the votes were first counted it looked like Kuykendall had eked out a narrow victory—but Ford ultimately won by 744 votes after contesting the original count. Ford became the first African-American to represent Tennessee in the