Rufus L. Perry (March 11, 1834 - June 18, 1895) was an American educator, journalist, and Baptist minister from Brooklyn, New York.

He was a prominent member of the African Civilization Society and was a co-founder of the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, which developed from it.

Lewis was a talented mechanic, carpenter, and cabinet maker, and secured the means to bring his family to Nashville where the Rufus was able to attend the school for free blacks taught by Sally Porter.

[5] Other prominent members included Daniel Payne, Henry Highland Garnet, Rev J. Sella Martin, and Amos N.

[6] In 1869, Perry was general agent, superintendent of schools, and editor of the newspaper, and chairman of the building committee of the Society.

The group fractured, and that year three officers, president Amos Freeman, director John Flamer, and Perry brought a lawsuit against corresponding secretary Rev.

In 1887 he wrote a text, The Cushite, or the Children of Ham as seen by the Ancient Historians and Poets,[3] which he published as a book in 1893 under the title, The Cushite, Or, The Descendants of Ham: As Found in the Sacred Scriptures and in the Writings of Ancient Historians and Poets from Noah to the Christian Era.

In 1888, Perry was elected president of a national meeting of Baptists, which came to be a union meeting of the General Association of Western States and Territories, the Foreign Mission Convention of the United States and the American Baptist Missionary Union, with Charles H. Parrish Secretary.

[17] His funeral was held at Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn and his burial was in Cypress Hills Cemetery.

The pall bearers were Dr. Amos Harper, T. McCants Stewart, T. Thomas Fortune, Dr. Daniel W. Wisher, Dr. T. Dwight Miller, and Dr. R. Watkins, and Rev W. F. Dixon delivered the eulogy.