Ford was born in Ridgeway, South Carolina, to a former slave, Nick Aaron Ford Sr., and his wife Carrie, a substitute teacher. Sanders Ford, a member of the South Carolina Senate, was the maternal grandfather of Nick Aaron Ford Jr. Between the ages of ten and sixteen, Ford was educated at a segregated school in Winnsboro, Louisiana. He then attended a high school affiliated with Benedict College, and subsequently earned a bachelor's degree from Benedict in 1926. Subsequently, Ford was principal of the Schofield Normal School in Aiken, South Carolina, until 1928, when he enrolled at Iowa State University for graduate study in journalism. Ford earned his master's degree in 1934, and his doctorate in 1945. He taught at Morgan State College from 1945 and later became Alain Locke Distinguished Professor of Black Studies in 1973.
