Fred Powledge was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1957, he graduated from the University of North Carolina. During the 1960s, he worked as a reporter covering the civil rights movement, first for the Atlanta Journal and then for The New York Times. In 1963, he and his wife moved from Atlanta to New York. In 1966, he left reporting to become a full-time freelance writer. His first book, Black Power/White Resistance: Notes on the New Civil War, was published in 1967. He has written seventeen books and many articles. In 1991, he also began writing editorial commentaries.