James A. Fields House

Former home of a man that went from rags to riches.

James A. Fields House is a historic home in Newport News, Virginia, built in 1897. It is a two-story, Italianate-style red brick home with a raised basement. The house was used by Mr. Fields as his law office and as his home from 1897 to 1903. He died of Bright's Disease in 1903. It was the first Newport News hospital for blacks in 1908. Today, the restored home gives tours sharing the life of the African-American community in the area of Newport News during the 1900s. In 2002, the home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

James A. Fields was born a slave, but after a particularly brutal beating, he escaped from his Hanover County bondage and settled in the Hampton area during the Civil War. Fields enrolled in and graduated 2 years later from the Agricultural Institute in 1869. He served as a justice of the peace in 1879, becoming Virginia's first black judicial officer.  In 1882, Fields received his law degree from Howard University and began to practice law in Warwick County, which became present-day Newport News.

Fields taught young black students for 14 years and would also tutor older ones in law theories and practice. He was elected as the commonwealth's attorney and won a seat in the General Assembly. Fields paid taxes on at least 25 properties in Newport News and Elizabeth City County. Take a tour of this historic home the next time you visit Virginia.