William Pickens (1881-1954) was born in Anderson County, South Carolina to parents who were liberated slaves and tenant farmers. He went to Yale in 1902 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated with a degree in classics in 1904 and became a professor at Talladega College in Alabama. Pickens was involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from its inception in 1910, and his leadership helped ensure its growth over the next thirty years, particularly in Southern states. He served as assistant field secretary, associate field secretary, and director of branches for the NAACP under James Weldon Johnson. Pickens was also a contributing editor for the Associated Negro Press.
