Uriah J. Fields Speakers Bureau
Uriah J. Fields
Clergyman * Lecturer * Singer*
Author * Former Pastor *
Ex-School Teacher * Veteran
Interested in booking Uriah J. Fields
to speak and/or sing (mostly a cappella)
at your next event?
Topics
Focus on: Justice, Human Rights, Civil Rights,
Personal Relationships, Religion, Spiritual
Enlightenment, Self-Development, Peace and Joy.
Motto: Empowerment through Encouragement.
Request for Fee and Availability | Contact:
P. O. Box 4770 * Charlottesville, VA 22905
434-923-8827 | uriahfields@embarqmail.com
Uriah J. Fields has drawn on his early experiences in
Sunflower, Alabama to relate to his constituency. He
says his parents' discipline and love gave him the eyes
to see grace and heart to feel compassion and his
paternal Grandfather, born in slavery, the chief
founder of the Fields School which he attended the
first eight years of his schooling is the person who had the
greatest influence on his life. In his book "Grandpa Benjamin"
he recounts the relationship he had with his Grandfather.
Soon after graduating from high school, he left Sunflower
and enlisted in the Army. During the Korean War he was
a Chaplain's Assistant. After his discharge from the Army
he was employed for about six months at a Post Office in
Chicago before returning to Alabama where he enrolled
at Alabama State College (now University). He was
elected president of the Freshman Class and two years
later president of the College Student Body.
While in College he became pastor of the Bell Street Baptist
Church in Montgomery and a registered voter eleven years
before enactment of the Voting Rights law. He holds the
Bachelor's and Masters's degrees from Alabama State College.
Uriah J. Fields, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph David
Abernathy, E. D. Nixon and fourteen other persons
organized the Montgomery Improvement Association
that provided organizational leadership for the
Montgomery Bus Boycott on December 5, 1955, the
day Rosa Parks was tried and found guilty of having
violated Alabama's segregation laws.
During the wee hours of January 10, 1957, the Bell
Street Baptist Church, three other churches and two
parsonages were bombed. Sixteen months later
members of the Bell Street Baptist Church entered
their new sanctuary. Fields graduated from Gammon
Theolgical Seminary (Interdenominational Theological
Center) in Atlanta with the Master of Divinity degree
cum laude. Before leaving Montgomery in 1962 to
reside in California, his name appeared on the ballot
and he became the first African American to be on
the ballot in Montgomery County for a county-wide
elective position since reconstruction.
Fields lived in California for thirty-three years. He was
the chief founder of the American Christian Freedom
Society and the Mutuality Center for Creative Living,
a California-style human development center. He studied
at UCLA and received the Ph.D. from the California
Graduate School of Theology. He was a peacemaker
during the Watts Riot in 1965 and the Rodney King
Riot in 1992. For nearly two decades he was secretary
of the Los Angeles Interdenominational Ministerial
Alliance (composed mostly of African American ministers).
He resided in Arizona for four years. At present he resides
in Virginia. In addition to "Grandfather Benjamin," he
is the author of "Inside the Montgomery Bus Boycott: My
Personal Story," "The Saint Troubadour: Speaking and
Singing Truth and Love," "God With Us," "Religion
Par Excellence: Actualization of the 7-Storey
Nature Of Man" and the "Mutuality Warrior."
His performances usually consist of speaking and
singing that includes songs he composed.
Copyright 2011 by Uriah J. Fields
