Born in Anderson, South Carolina in 1892, Horatio Seymour Hill earned a BA from Benedict College in 1918 before attending Virginia Union University from 1918 to 1919. He later became a trustee of Benedict. Hill received his BD from Oberlin College in 1921. In 1923, he completed a master's degree from Yale. His thesis was entitled, “The Problem of Religious Education among American Negroes.”
Acting on the recommendation of Professor Luther A. Weigle of Yale Divinity School, Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. hired Hill to be the director of religious education at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. He held that position from 1924 to 1930. From 1930 to 1965, Hill was director of the Baptist Educational Center in Harlem. Hill died in 1977 in New York.