Leslie Henderson, painter, printmaker, teacher and illustrator, was born to Mary and Samuel Henderson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 20 November 1895. He studied at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art with John R. Sinnock and James Horsey Fincken.

Henderson served in the U.S. Army during World War I; he enlisted on 9 July 1917 and was discharged on 25 November 1919. According to the 1930 US census he was married and living in Camden, New Jersey. During the mid to late 1930s, Henderson worked on the WPA and produced at least two engravings, The Merry-Go-Round and The Scissor Artist.

By 1940, Henderson had returned to Philadelphia where he was a member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the Philadelphia Art Teachers Association, and the Philadelphia Water Color Club.

His work is represented in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Leslie Henderson died in 21 August 1988 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.