Morris, an African-American and the grandson of sharecroppers, was born in rural Tutwiler, Mississippi. As a child he experienced Jim Crow racism and segregation; one of his earliest memories was the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till. He moved to Chicago with his family, and enrolled at Southeast Community College in 1968. Morris studied sociology and social movements at Bradley University and the State University of New York, Stony Brook, receiving his PhD in 1980.
