Morris, Elias Camp
1855-1922 · Contribution: 1895-1921
Baptist minister; denominational leader
First president of the National Baptist Convention, today the largest historically Black Christian denomination in the United States

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1855, Georgia
- Active since
- 1895
- Category
- Religious & Spiritual Leadership
- Best known for
- First president of the National Baptist Convention
Impact on the world
Morris united fragmented Black Baptist bodies into a single national denomination, building the institutional home for what remains the largest predominantly African American Christian denomination in the U.S.
Sources
- BlackPast.org
1 more sources and references are available to members.
Related visionaries
Taylor, Gardner Calvin
1918-2015
Co-founded the Progressive National Baptist Convention in 1961 after a contested National Baptist Convention presidential election tied to support for Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights tactics
Liele, George
c.1750-1828
Became the first ordained African American Baptist preacher in 1775 and, upon emigrating to Jamaica in 1782, is widely credited as America's first Baptist missionary — leaving to evangelize abroad a full decade before William Carey, often called the father of the modern missionary movement, departed for India
Bryan, Andrew
1737-1812
Founded and pastored First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, for 24 years, building it from an initial 67 members in 1788 into a congregation of nearly 2,800 by 1831 despite enduring imprisonment and public whipping for preaching to enslaved people
Payne, Daniel Alexander
1811-1893
First African American president of a college in the United States; transformed the AME Church's ministry into a formally educated clergy and helped found Wilberforce University