Alford Littleton was born in Corvell County, Texas. His family briefly moved to California then returned to Texas when moving to Odessa during the 1950s. Littleton attended segregated schools while in Odessa and graduated valedictorian from Blackshear High School. Littleton attended the University of Texas at Austin for two years, but he returned to Odessa to work and raise a family. In Odessa, Littleton became the first African American to work within Shell’s refinery lab. He later started his own engineering testing company in Dallas, Texas—the first such company in Dallas owned by an African American.