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Samuel DeWitt Proctor was born and raised in Norfolk, VA to parents, Herbert Proctor and Velma Hughes. Following his high school graduation, Proctor enrolled at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) pursuing a degree in music with the help of a musical scholarship for his extraordinary saxophone skills. Proctor left Virginia State College in 1939, and enrolled in the U.S. Naval Apprentice School to receive shipfitting training, leaving only after a year of being enrolled. Following his departure from the Naval School, Proctor enrolled and graduated from Virginia Union University in 1942. He then went on to the University of Pennsylvania where he studied for a year before enrolling as the only Black student at the Crozer Theological Seminary studying Christian ministry. Following his graduation from Crozer, Proctor became a pastor in Providence, Rhode Island and also accepted The John Price Crozer Fellowship to study ethics at Yale University. He balanced both being a pastor in Providence and also a Fellow at Yale before leaving to pursue a Ph.D. at the Boston University School of Theology.