Samuel Dewitt Proctor and His Contributions to the Baptist Churches

Samuel Dewitt Proctor
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Samuel Dewitt Proctor
The best way to understand the world as it is today is through history. History allows people to learn how certain institutions, such as the churches, were built and also understand the contribution of significant figures. To best understand the journey of Baptists churches, it is important to look at the significant figures in history and how they influenced the Baptist life during their time of service. As Brackney reveals, Baptists churches have been a significant part of the identity of African-Americans, thanks to the work of many Baptists figures in the history of the Baptist churches. One such significant figure in the Baptists' life is Samuel Dewitt Proctor. This essay provides congregants with information about Samuel Dewitt Proctor and his contributions to the Baptist churches.[William Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptist .( London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), 483.]
Summary of Samuel Dewitt Proctor' Life
Samuel Dewitt Proctor was born in 1921 in Norfolk, Virginia, to Velma Hughes and Herbert Proctor. His family valued education, and his grandparents from his paternal and maternal side had a college education, which was unusual at the time. Other than being raised by educated parents to value education, he was also raised a Baptist. His great-grandfather, Zecharia Hughes, had started a family church which Proctor attended in his early years. Growing up in church helped build Proctor's faith, and this became a central part of who he was and what he was trying to do in the world.[Jeffrey Brooks and Anthony Normore, Leading against the Grain: Lessons for Creating Just and Equitable Schools (New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2018),57.] [Brooks and Normore, Leading against the Grain, 57.]
Proctor attended Virginia Union University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1942. While at the university, he got baptized as a college student, which further cemented his faith and life as a Baptist. He later attended Crozer Theological Seminary and received a bachelor's degree in divinity in 1945. He pursued a Bachelor of Divinity degree at the seminary because he wanted to understand Christian ministry. Immediately after his graduation, he became a pastor at the Pond Street Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island, where he served for a while before pursuing a Ph.D. in theology at Boston University. He received his Ph.D. in 1950. All this education prepared him for a career as a minister and an educator.[Brooks and Normore, Leading against the Grain, 57.]
Soon after receiving his Ph.D., Proctor went back to the Virginia Union University, where he started teaching theology. According to Brackney, he rose through the ranks while there, and he became the president of the university. He served as president for five years and left to become the president of the Agriculture and Technical College of North Carolina (North Carolina A&T University) in 1955. He resigned from this position in 1964 and became the president of the National Council of Churches. Proctor also took an interest in South Pacific and Africa, where he traveled to give lectures. He was specifically interested in Afric...