he was born on july 8, 1872, at the bankhead plantation in lamar county, alabama. after earning his law degree in 1893 and practicing law for ten with his brother william, bankhead was elected to the alabama house of representatives in 1903. after alabama's grandfather clause, that disenfranchised most black voters was declared unconstitutional, bankhead was one of the authors of alabama's revised voting law that effectively kept most black voters from registering, through a series of tests and poll taxes.