He was the eldest of nine children born to Jennie and George Bridgeforth Sr., emancipated African American farmers who purchased land in northern Alabama by 1877.

He was elected sergeant-at-arms for the sophomore class, participated in the college Shakespeare club, served as president of the YMCA, won second prize in a speech contest, played football, and lectured on the "Agriculture of the South" to the Amherst Grange.

Despite this mishap, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1901, becoming the first Black alumnus of the future UMass Amherst.

He taught briefly at the State Normal School in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 1902 he became a professor of agriculture at the Tuskegee Institute, where he served under principal Booker T. Washington and initially worked as assistant to department chair George Washington Carver, two of the period's most prominent African American figures.

[5] A "big, energetic, blustery man with a flair and a taste for administrative power," Bridgeforth openly disdained Carver's abilities.

[4] By 1923, Bridgeforth had returned home to Athens, Alabama, where he raised dairy cattle, sold real estate, and taught at the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial College and Trinity School, which he attended in his youth.

[3] The couple had one son and three daughters, including Elna Spaulding, who served on the North Carolina Durham County Board of Commissioners from 1974 to 1984.