William J. Trent

William Johnson Trent Jr. (1910–1993) was an African-American economist, non-profit director and civil rights activist from North Carolina.

Career

Trent was born in Asheville, North Carolina and moved with his family to Atlanta at an early age. His father, William J. Trent Sr., was an early organizer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He graduated from a black private high school in Atlanta and attended Livingstone College, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1930. His father was president of Livingstone at the time. He then earned a master's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania at the University of Pennsylvania and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. He then returned to North Carolina and taught for two years at his alma mater and later Bennett College.

He served as treasurer and longtime board member of the National Urban League and as board president of St. Luke's Hospital.

UNCF Trent (third from right) and other members of the United Negro College Fund meet with President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office, September 25, 1962 Wharton Magazine referred to William J. Trent Jr. as the architect of the UNCF having steered the organization during the chaotic civil rights period in the United States. Trent collaborated with Frederick D. Patterson, Tuskegee Institute president and Mary McLeod Bethune in founding the nonprofit that brought together several college presidents in raising finances as a group with the motto of "Appeal to the National Conscience." This collective fund was made available to eligible white and black students regardless of race in 1956.USA presidents like Roosevelt and John F Kennedy as well as business moguls supported Trent in this endeavor. As a young student, President George Bush engaged Trent as campus coordinator for Yale University.