He also led the Peace Corps in Africa, and served as the senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City.

[1] Unusual for an African American born in this era, Proctor's grandparents on both sides had received education at the university level: his paternal grandmother had attended Hampton Institute, and both of his maternal grandparents had attended Norfolk Mission College,the forerunner of Booker T Washington High School in Norfolk, Virginia.

In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, Eisenhower asked these leaders to "ease off" on their demands for civil rights for African Americans.

Arriving in the middle of the Greensboro sit-ins, Proctor did not publicly support the student protesters, believing that quiet diplomacy was more effective than confrontation in advancing the civil rights agenda.

Proctor had strong ties to the Kennedy administration and in 1963-64 he took a leave of absence from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina to serve as associate director of the newly established Peace Corps chapter in Africa.

Upon his return to the United States, Proctor resumed his presidential duties as of September 1, 1963 but on March 1, 1964, he announced his resignation to become effective April 10, 1964, citing his desire to devote himself to public service in the wake of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

He was a supporter of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, serving as a special adviser to the Office of Economic Opportunity for the northeast region.

Rev Crawley was a mentor to some of the Greatest orators of our time including, Sandy Ray, Gardner C Taylor, William A. Jones, Wyatt T Walker and EK Baily just to name a few.

In 1969, Proctor was invited by Rutgers University to give a lecture on the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Many of the college's administrators were there and were impressed by the address, and they soon offered Proctor the newly established position of Martin Luther King Distinguished Professor of Education.

Calvin O. Butts served as Proctor's associate pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church for a number of years.

In 1997, during a speaking engagement at Cornell College (in Mount Vernon, Iowa), Proctor suffered a heart attack which proved fatal.