Born in the town of Suspension in Bullock County, Alabama, Henry Perry was an early graduate of the Tuskegee Institute. A 1967 obituary reported he began work as a preacher in 1908.

Rev. Perry began serving as a minister in Des Moines, Iowa in late 1914. The Iowa State Bystander noted that he was the new pastor at the Lee Mission for the AME Church at E. 16th and Fillmore. That church would become Bethel AME, and he continued to serve there until late 1919. While in Des Moines he took coursework at Drake University.

He coordinated a rally of Black churches at the Des Moines Auditorium in support of World War I on April 28, 1918. Bethel AME raised $412.50. The church was second only to St. Paul AME which raised $425.00. Overall the churches raised $1,335.00.

Rev. Perry left Des Moines for an appointment in Terre Haute, Indiana in late 1919. He had a long career in Indiana including more than 20 years as a school principal in Kokomo. He led an effort to build a community center for Black residents. He left that city to serve at St. John AME in Indianapolis in 1949. Rev. Perry then served as pastor for Allen Chapel AME in Anderson, Indiana in the early 1960s. Obituaries stated he is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.