Julia Fields

Julia Fields (1938–2026) was born in Perry County, Alabama, near Uniontown, and grew up on a farm, where she developed an early passion for reading and writing poetry. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Knoxville College in 1961, she taught in Birmingham while continuing her studies at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English and the University of Edinburgh. She completed her master’s degree in English at Middlebury in 1972. Fields gained national recognition when her poems appeared in prominent magazines. Her three-act play All Day Tomorrow dates from 1966, the same year her first short story, “Ten to Seven,” appeared in Negro Digest. She received a Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which supported her first collection, Poems (1968). Her best-known poem, “High on the Hog” (1969), has been widely taught and anthologized and remains a touchstone of African American poetry. Her later books include East of Moonlight (1973), A Summoning, a Shining (1976), and Slow Coins (1981), as well as The Green Lion of Zion Street (1988), a children’s book illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. She taught at Miles College near Birmingham and later at Hampton Institute, Howard University, and other colleges. Her work also drew notice abroad, and she was an invited guest poet at the Mirbad Poetry Festival in Iraq. Fields died in July, 2026.

I Heard a Young Man Saying. Michigan; Broadside Press, 1966.

Poems. New York; Poets Press, 1968.

A Summoning, A Shining. New York; Poets Press, 1968. rpt. Scotland Neck, N.C.: sn, 1976.

East of Moonlight. Charlotte; Red Clay Books, 1973.

Slow Coins. Washington, D.C.; Three Continents, 1981.

Green Lion of Zion Street. New York; McElderry Books, 1988.

Julia Fields wrote poetry, short stories, children's books, and even a three-act play. Her poetry explores the Black experience through humor and dialect.

Alabama Authors of the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, http://alabamaauthors.org

AL Author Collection

Fields, Julia, “Julia Fields,” Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, accessed November 8, 2026, https://www.alabamaauthors.org/items/show/575.