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 develoment 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