Leonard Morse
*Leonard Morse was born on this date in 1891. He was a Black minister and a founding member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
From Boston, MA., Leonard F. Morse was the son of a distinguished New England Family, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Morse of Boston, Massachusetts. Trained in the elementary and secondary schools of New Bedford, Massachusetts, he became the valedictorian of his integrated high school. In 1915, he graduated from Howard University and was the first person to graduate in 3 years with an A. B and B.Ed. Degrees.
In the 1915 Howard University Yearbook, entitled “The Mirror,” Morse has listed by his name the following: Director of Social Service, YMCA, 1913-1914. Organizer and President of Phi Beta Sigma, 1914-15. President, Young Men’s Progressive Club, 1914-15, tutor of languages and history.
Later, the degree of Bachelor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the Payne School of Divinity, Wilberforce University. He received his master’s degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and the Doctor of Metaphysics and the Doctor of Psychology from the College of Metaphysics, Indianapolis, Indiana. The Honorary Degree of D.D. was conferred at Allen University, Columbia, SC, and the LLD at Edward Waters College, Jacksonville, FL. An outstanding educator and prophet, he served in many institutions and areas of Educational and Religious life. He was Dean of Theology at Edward Waters College, Head of the Department of Religious Studies, President of Edward Waters, and a Mason.
He founded and chartered numerous Sigma Chapters, especially in Florida. Morse was married and had five children. He left us with “Smooth Runs the Water Where the Brook is Deep.” Leonard Morse died on May 22, 1961.
