She received her [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1968, and her [[Ph.D.]] from [[Yale University]] in 1978. At Yale, she was one of the last doctoral students of [[C. Vann Woodward]], one of the preeminent American historians of the twentieth century. She appears in [[Ken Burns]]' documentary series, [[The Civil War (TV series)|''The Civil War'']] and [[The Congress (1988 film)|''The Congress'']].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Barbara Fields|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2719095/|access-date=2020-10-06|website=IMDb}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Torres |first=Mo |date=2022 |title=Against Race, Toward the Abolition of Racism |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23326492221136168 |journal=Sociology of Race and Ethnicity |volume=9 |pages=124–127 |language=en |doi=10.1177/23326492221136168 |s2cid=253329204 |issn=2332-6492}}</ref>
Fields was the first African American woman to receiveearn tenure at Columbia University. She has also taught at [[Northwestern University]], the [[University of Michigan]], and the [[University of Mississippi]]. She is widely known for her 1990 essay, "Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fields|first=Barbara Jeanne|date=1990|title=Slavery, race and ideology in the United States of America|url=https://newleftreview.org/issues/I181/articles/barbara-jeanne-fields-slavery-race-and-ideology-in-the-united-states-of-america|journal=New Left Review|volume=181|pages=95–118}}</ref> She authored the 2012 book ''Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life'' (along with her sister Karen Fields, a sociologist).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Denvir|first=Daniel|date=17 Jan 2018|title=Barbara and Karen Fields discuss their new book, "Racecraft"|url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/168044|access-date=2020-10-06|website=historynewsnetwork.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Magubane |first=Zine |date=2022 |title=Exposing the Conjuror's Tricks: Barbara Fields's Sociological Imagination |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23326492221136165 |journal=Sociology of Race and Ethnicity |volume=9 |pages=128–132 |language=en |doi=10.1177/23326492221136165 |s2cid=253342715 |issn=2332-6492}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Heideman |first=Paul |date=2022 |title=Racecraft as a Challenge to the Sociology of Race |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23326492221136164 |journal=Sociology of Race and Ethnicity |volume=9 |pages=119–123 |language=en |doi=10.1177/23326492221136164 |s2cid=253326167 |issn=2332-6492}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The book argues that race is a product of racism; that racism is an ideology and a way of misunderstanding social reality; and that racecraft in American society serves to obfuscate the actual dynamics of inequality.<ref name=":1" />
[[Bard College]] awarded Fields an honorary doctorate in May 2007. She received the [[Philolexian]] Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement in 2017.
