Effie Lee Morris (April 20, 1921 – November 9, 2009) was an African American children's librarian, educator, and activist, best known for her pioneering public library services for minorities and the visually-impaired.

She was the first coordinator of children's services at San Francisco Public Library, where she was also the first African American to hold an administrative position.

[2] An active leader in advocacy organizations, Morris served as president of the Public Library Association—the first woman and first African American person to do so.

After discovering her local Mount Pleasant branch of the Cleveland Public Library, she delighted in playing librarian by organizing her books on the front porch.

[10] Morris was valedictorian at John Adams High School[11] and won a scholarship to the University of Chicago, where she studied for three years.

Her thesis was titled "A Mid-Century Survey of the Presentation of the American Negro in Literature for Children Published in the United States between 1700 and 1950.

[1] She established the library's first Negro History Week celebration for children, for which she developed the programming and suggested reading list.

[17] During her time in New York, Morris served as president of the National Braille Association and chair of the Library of Congress's Committee for Book Selection for Blind Children.

[21] In 1975, Morris used a Library Services and Construction Act grant to establish "Dial-a-Story", a 24-hour phone line where callers could listen to a three-minute recorded story for preschool-aged children.

[3] After leaving San Francisco Public Library, Morris worked as a senior editor of urban education at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich from 1978 to 1979.