Fredrick D. Richardson, Jr. was born in 1939 in an obscure village called Nymph, in Conecuh County. He was 5th of 12 children born to Fredrick (Fred) and Helen Richardson. His father died when he was sixteen. He completed grade and high school in Conecuh County.
After completing high school in 1958, Richardson moved to Mobile where his first job was that of a housekeeper at Mobile Infirmary Medical Center. Later, he became a substitute letter carrier at the Mobile Post Office. He retired in 1992 as Manager of Station and Branch operations, serving both the Loop and Bel Air Post Offices.
Richardson attended Carver State Vocational College, Bishop State Community College and the University of South Alabama, where he earned a B.A. Degree (1974) in Political Science and History. He did further study at the University of South Alabama towards a Masters Degree in history.
In 1968, Richardson became treasurer of the civil rights organization Neighborhood Organized Workers.
His first book, THE GENESIS AND EXODUS OF NOW, was published in 1978. It documented social and political change in Mobile from 1965 to 1975, as a direct result of NOW. A second edition to that book was released in February of 1996.
His research on the Stone Street Baptist Church has been published as THE STONE STREET BAPTIST CHURCH, ALABAMA'S FIRST 1806-1982. That research led to the church being placed on the Alabama Historical Register and the National Register of Historical Places by the U.S. Department of Interior, as a national historical site. He has recently written a play that is now on national tour entitled, THE BIRTH OF A CHURCH, which dramatized the early beginning of Stone Street Baptist. He has completed other books: TITHING, WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE, which was published in 2001 and IMPRINTS, TRACING TODAY'S BEHAVIOR TO PAST EVENTS.
Richardson is a member of the Stone Street Baptist Church where he serves as historian and is on the Board of Deacons.
Richardson was appointed to the Mobile City Council in February of 1997, to fill the vacant District 1 Council seat left by Council Member Vivian Davis Figures. He has held the position since.
On the Council, Richardson is chairman of the Public Safety Committee.
He is the father of three children, Lawanda, Lisa and Fredrick III.