William English Walling
American labor leader (1877–1936)
William English Walling (March 18, 1877 – September 12, 1936) (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.
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.
Early life and education
William English Walling was born into wealth in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Willoughby Walling, a physician who had inherited much real estate, and Rosalinda (née English) Walling. He had an older brother, Willoughby George Walling. His father's family were planters who had held slaves before the American Civil War. The boys' maternal grandfather was William Hayden English, a successful businessman in Indiana and the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1880.
Walling was educated at a private school in Louisville, and at the University of Chicago and Harvard Law School.
The public source identifies “William English Walling” as american labor leader (1877–1936). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, English and Walling.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8008621. VIAF identifies the subject as 40227343. The Library of Congress control number is no96039956. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1877, 1936, 1903 and 1908.
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This entry incorporates text from “William English Walling” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.