Starting in 1896, Miller served as the
rector of St. Augustine's Church in
Brooklyn,
New York City, until his death. In 1924, he was responsible for obtaining the church's new building. He became a senior clergyman in the
Episcopal Diocese of Long Island and a trustee of Howard University. Miller was elected president of the
National Equal Rights League. On August 1, 1917, Miller was a member of a delegation of prominent black leaders that presented a petition to President
Woodrow Wilson asking for him to support legislation to make lynching a federal crime. This delegation included
Everard W. Daniel,
James Weldon Johnson,
John E. Nail,
Fred R. Moore,
Madam C. J. Walker, and chaired by
Frederick Asbury Cullen. However, Wilson refused to meet with them with his secretary,
Joseph Patrick Tumulty, saying that Wilson was too busy. Cullen, Johnson, and Miller were members of a delegation to Wilson in 1918, that presented a petition signed by 12,000 people asking for clemency for members of the
24th Infantry Regiment given the death sentence for the
Houston riot of 1917. After this meeting Wilson stopped all executions of soldiers except for those at the front in
World War I and later commuted 10 of the 16 death sentences. Miller was a friend of
W. E. B. Du Bois, a founding member of the
Niagara Movement, member of the
NAACP, and contributor to
The Messenger. In 1906, Miller joined the
Socialist Party of America and was its candidate for the
New York's 21st congressional district in
1918, during which he raised and spent $10 (). He received 5.1% of the vote as incumbent Democrat
Jerome F. Donovan was re-elected. He called for the release of
Earl Browder. On May 9, 1943, Miller died in Brooklyn and was succeeded as rector by Charles C. E. England. ==Works==