Albert Sydney Long was born in August 1864 in Franklinton, North Carolina, the son of Stanford Lee Long, a cabinet maker and undertaker, and Mariah Levister. Following his graduation from Albion Academy in Franklinton, Long attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, from which place he earned a bachelors degree in theology in 1896. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, he served the Lexington community as principal of the segregated graded school. He died in Goldsboro, North Carolina on March 13, 1942.