Percy Hayes Baker was a scholar of the sciences and an educator. He taught biology at the North Carolina College from 1930 to 1934, then at the Virginia State College from 1934 to 1945, when he came to Black Mountain College. Baker was awarded a grant from the Julius Rosenwald Fund to work at Virginia State College on the study of the preparation of school texts in science in 1937 (Chattanooga Daily Times, 3 May, 1937).

His mother was a teacher at the James City training school, where Percy also attended. His father was sexton at Bruton Parish church (Daily Press, 5 May, 1937). He received a B.S. in Zoology and Botany at the University of Pittsburgh in 1929, and Ph.D. in Zoology and Genetics at the University of Michigan in 1944. When Edward Lowinsky recruited Baker, he responded "I can think of nothing which would give me greater personal satisfaction and more opportunity for growth then to be actively affiliated with such an experiment as your letter and college bulletins describe" (Percy Hayes Baker to Edward Lowinsky, 30 June, 1945, Interracial Program Files, Black Mountain College Collection, Western Regional Archives).

Baker brought his wife and two children to the college and they spent time with the Lowinsky family. Helen wrote to Mrs. Lowinsky after their visit, "We shall never be able to finish talking about Black Mountain College. One of the things we have talked much of is the beautiful Lowinsky family. We are so grateful for all of the hospitality you extended to us" (Helen Baker to Gretel Lowinsky, 27 July, 1945, Interracial Program Files, Black Mountain College Collection, Western Regional Archives). He was a lecturer in Biology for only one semester, in the fall of 1945.