Johnny Ford
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Johnny L. Ford (born August 23, 1942 in
Midway, Alabama Midway is a town located in eastern Bullock County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 421. Old Merritt School Margaret Elizabeth Merritt of Midway sold two acres for $5 to the State of Alabama in 1921 as a site f ...
) is an American
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and mayor of
Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...
, and a former Alabama State Representative.


Early life and education

He was raised as a child and attended elementary school in Tuskegee. He is a graduate of Tuskegee Institute High School. Ford received his
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in History and Sociology from
Knoxville College Knoxville College is a historically black liberal arts college in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, which was founded in 1875 by the United Presbyterian Church of North America. It is a United Negro College Fund member school. A slow peri ...
, his Master's of Public Administration from
Auburn University Montgomery Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) is a public university in Montgomery, Alabama. Established by an act of the Alabama Legislature in 1967, it is governed by the Auburn University Board of Trustees as a member of the Auburn University system. ...
, and has received four Honorary Doctorate Degrees.


Personal life

Ford is
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and married a White woman in a Roman Catholic ceremony at a time when
miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
was still illegal in Alabama. They have three children: John, Christopher, and Tiffany.


Political career

Ford was first elected mayor of Tuskegee in 1972. He was, along with Algernon J. Cooper of Prichard, elected the first black mayors of cities of more than 10,000 people in the modern era in Alabama in 1972 (although Hobson City had been black-run since its incorporation in 1899, but it was a smaller community). After serving six terms as mayor, Ford was defeated in 1996 by Ronald D. Williams, a former political aide. Two years later in 1998, Ford ran for and won State Representative of the 82nd District from Macon County. He served from 1999 until 2004. In February 2003, he switched to the Republican Party, becoming Alabama's first black Republican in the state legislature in more than 100 years. Preferring to serve in his old office as mayor, he resigned from the legislature and was elected mayor in 2004, defeating the first black woman mayor of Tuskegee, Lucenia Williams Dunn by a 54-46% margin. Facing a tough reelection to an 8th non-consecutive term in 2008, which featured 5 candidates, challenger Omar Neal led in the August municipal election by just 12 votes (927 to 915) over Ford. Credited with turning out the "youth vote" from
Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...
, Neal defeated Ford by a 54-46% margin (1,463 to 1,270), in a higher turnout October runoff. As of 2015, Tuskegee has not reelected a mayor to a consecutive term since Ford won his sixth term in 1992. Ford is the founder and Director General of the World Conference of Mayors and also serves as President of Johnny Ford and Associates, Inc. Ford is the President-emeritus and Founder of the
National Conference of Black Mayors The National Conference of Black Mayors (NCBM) was incorporated in 1974 and was originally organized as the Southern Conference of Black Mayors (SCBM) forty years ago. The thirteen mayors who founded the group were elected after the enactment o ...
. He was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Committee on Federalism and the U.S. Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee on Trade. Ford is also a past President of the Alabama League of Municipalities, is a member of
Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...
, and the founding President of the Tuskegee
Optimist Club Optimist International is an international service club organization with almost 3,000 clubs and over 80,000 members in more than 20 countries. The international headquarters is located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Optimist Internation ...
. Ford rejoined the Democratic party and ran for the open state Senate district 28 in 2010 (incumbent Myron Penn retired). Though it is a
majority-minority A majority-minority or minority-majority area is a term used to refer to a administrative division, subdivision in which one or more minority group, racial, ethnic, and/or religious minorities (relative to the whole country's population) make up a ...
seat, he lost the run-off election to Billy Beasley, who is white, and the brother of former Lieutenant Governor
Jere Beasley Jere Locke Beasley (born December 12, 1935) is an American attorney and politician; he served as acting governor of Alabama from June 5 to July 7, 1972. His law firm has been noted nationally for winning major awards for its clients; among them ...
. In 2012, Ford ran again for his old job as Tuskegee mayor and in the August primary, he defeated 1st term Mayor Neal by a margin of 57-38% (with 3rd candidate Lula Pearl-Franklin pulling the remaining 5%) and as a result, did not require a run-off. He was then sworn in to an unprecedented 8th non-consecutive term as mayor.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Johnny 1942 births Living people Alabama Democrats Alabama Republicans Auburn University at Montgomery alumni People from Midway, Alabama Members of the Alabama House of Representatives Mayors of places in Alabama African-American mayors in Alabama Knoxville College alumni African-American state legislators in Alabama African-American Catholics 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people