Julian Mayfield audio and moving image collection

circa 1969-1972

Julian Hudson Mayfield (June 6, 1928 - October 20, 1984) was an actor, director, writer, lecturer, and civil rights activist. Born in Greer, South Carolina, Mayfield grew up in Washington, DC, and graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. After serving in the US Army, he studied briefly at Lincoln University. In 1948, he moved to New York City, where he began his career in theater.

Mayfield had a multifaceted career. His Broadway debut was in Lost in the Stars (1949), based on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton. In addition to acting in various stage productions, musicals, and films, Mayfield wrote, produced, and directed several off-Broadway plays. A member of the Harlem Writers Guild, Mayfield's plays include Fire (1949), 417 (1952), The Other Foot (1952), and A World Full of Men (1952). He also co-produced Ossie Davis's first play Alice in Wonder (1952).

His novels include The Hit (1957), an adaptation of 417; The Long Night (1958); and The Grand Parade (1961). Mayfield also wrote several works, including an autobiography, that remain unpublished. He wrote a number of screenplays for film and television, including Uptight (1968) and The Long Night (1976), an adaptation of his novel of the same name. He also wrote for educational audiovisual programs, such as The History of the Black Man in the United States, a widely distributed eight-part filmstrip with accompanying audio produced for high school students circa 1969.

Mayfield lived in Puerto Rico from 1956 to 1959, before returning to New York. In 1961 he moved to Ghana and served as the communications aide to President Kwame Nkrumah until 1966. Afterwards he relocated to Ibiza, Spain, and returned to the US in May 1967. From 1967 to 1971, Mayfield had overlapping fellowships and lecturer positions at both New York University and Cornell University. In 1971 he moved to Guyana to work for the government of President Forbes Burnham. On his return in 1975, Mayfield was a visiting professor at the University of Maryland, and in 1976 won a Fulbright Fellowship and taught in West Germany and Turkey. In 1978 he became a writer-in-residence at Howard University.

Mayfield died of cardiac arrest in Takoma Park, Maryland, in 1984 at fifty-six years old.