William English Walling

English Walling
Chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
In office
1910–1911
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byOswald Garrison Villard
Personal details
Born
William English Walling

(1877-03-18)March 18, 1877
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedSeptember 12, 1936(1936-09-12) (aged 59)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
EducationUniversity of Chicago (BA)
Harvard University (LLB)

William English Walling (March 18, 1877 – September 12, 1936)[1] (known as "English" to friends and family) was an American labor reformer and Socialist Republican born into a wealthy family in Louisville, Kentucky. He founded the National Women's Trade Union League in 1903. Moved by his investigation of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908 in the state capital of Illinois, he was among the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.[2]

He wrote three books on socialism in the early 20th century. He left the Socialist Party because of its anti-war policy, as he believed United States participation in the Great War was needed to defeat the Central Powers.

  1. ^ "William English Walling" at ancestry.com.
  2. ^ Boylan, James. Revolutionary Lives: Anna Strunsky & William English Walling, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998. viii, 334 pp.