Background
Morton was born on January 7, 1905 in Smalling, Tennessee to Jonathan Morrell Morton and Mary Katherine O"Dell Morton. She and her sisters, Inez and Lucille, grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee.
Morton was born on January 7, 1905 in Smalling, Tennessee to Jonathan Morrell Morton and Mary Katherine O"Dell Morton. She and her sisters, Inez and Lucille, grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee.
In 1925, Morton graduated from Flora MacDonald College in Red Springs, North Carolina.
She taught Christian Education for fourteen years at Drew University, during which time she became passionate about improving the position of women within the Christian faith. In 1985, she published an anthology of essays titled The Journey Is Home. After her graduation, she spent four years teaching public school in her hometown of Kingsport.
During these years, Morton began graduate work at The General Assembly Training School in Richmond, Virginia, later moving to New York to attend the New York Theological Seminary.
She received her Master"s degree in Religious Education in 1931. She went on to continue her studies and research at various institutions, including the Graduate Ecumenical Institute in Cligny, Switzerland, L"Institut de Rousseau in Geneva, and the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, District of Columbia During her time there, she worked to organize youth camps and conferences that allowed and encouraged adolescents of all races to attend.
From 1945 to 1949, Morton was the General Secretary of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, an organization that welcomed religious men and women of varying faiths and races and had by this time become active in leading reform on race issues and reconstruction. In 1949, Morton"s health required her to move back to Tennessee to live on her family"s farm.
She spent the next seven years teaching physically and mentally handicapped children.
She innovated camping programs for handicapped children, producing a prizewinning film on these programs. She also used this time to focus on her writing, publishing both The Bible and Its Use and The Church We Cannot Secretary In 1956, Morton moved to Madison, New Jersey to teach Christian Education at the Theological School of Drew University.
During this time she taught a course on "Women in Church and Society," which is thought to be the first course to address the role of women in this field
This course coincided with her shift toward focusing on the status of women within the Christian church. Both during and after her tenure at Drew University, she spoke widely and sometimes taught courses at other universities.
She wrote prolifically on religion, spirituality, feminism, intersectionality, and language.