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NAACP Founder William English Walling
William English Walling (1877–1936) was a prominent socialist and journalist. He was a founder of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, the Women's Trade Union League, the Social Democratic League, and the NAACP. In 1908 he traveled to Springfield, Illinois, to investigate a recent race riot in which whites had targeted blacks. In his article, The Race War in the North, Walling declared: "the spirit of the abolitionists, of Lincoln and Lovejoy, must be revived and we must come to treat the negro on a plane of absolute political and social equality." He appealed for a "large and powerful body of citizens to come to [blacks] aid." The article aroused the conscience of Mary White Ovington, who wrote a letter to Walling offering her support. |