Introduction

Biography

William was the son of Ed­ward Walls and Mat­tie Edg­er­ton, and hus­band of Do­ro­thy L. Jor­dan (mar­ried Decem­ber 6, 1956).

At age 14, he was or­dained to the min­is­try of the Af­ri­can Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal (AME) Zi­on Church at the church’s Hop­kins Cha­pel in Ashe­ville, North Ca­ro­li­na.

In 1924, he was elect­ed a bi­shop of the AME Zion Church in In­di­an­apo­lis, In­di­ana. He served as sen­ior AME Zi­on bi­shop 1951–68.

Works

• Wisdom for the Times
• What Youth Wants
• The Ne­gro in Bu­si­ness and Re­li­gion
• Joseph Charles Price: Edu­ca­tion and Race Lead­er
• The Ro­mance of a Col­lege
• The Dreams of Youth
• Living Es­sen­tials of Me­thod­ism
• Harriet Tub­man
• The Af­ri­can Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church: Re­al­it­y of the Black Church (A.M.E. Zi­on Pub­lish­ing House, 1974)