Samuel Richard Morsell

Born in 1874 in Baltimore, Maryland, Samuel Richard Morsell attended segregated Black schools in Baltimore before attending Oberlin Academy from 1901 to 1903. He then earned his BA from Oberlin College in 1907 before attending the Yale Divinity School. At Yale, Morsell was a founding member of Zeta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He and his wife Maude were married at Dixwell Congregational Church by the Rev. Edward F. Goin. Ordained in the AME Church, Morsell served as executive secretary of the YMCA of Pittsburgh, executive secretary of the YMCA of White Plains, New York, and executive secretary of the YMCA of Baltimore. The New York Times reported at his death that he had been pressured by white residents to leave his post in White Plains. Black newspapers reported in 1930 that Morsell had opposed housing segregation in the community and had himself lived in a white neighborhood. The Morsells were the parents of two children. His wife died in 1952, and he died in 1955 in Brooklyn, New York.

"In Lighter Vein; Typographical Error," Afro-American, March 14, 1936.