William Jefferson White (December 25, 1831 – April 17, 1913) was an American civil rights leader, minister, educator, and journalist.

He was a founder in 1880 and the managing editor of the Georgia Baptist, a leading African American newspaper for many years.

He also spent a short time working on a wagon travelling in rural parts of the state selling the factory's goods.

In June, 1842, he went to Augusta, Georgia, where he lived with the family of Captain W. G. Nimms and learned to write.

[1] He never formally attended college, but did take part in the courses at the Augusta Institute, which he helped found,[4] and in 1889 was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by the State University of Kentucky.

On January 12, 1867, White was appointed an educational agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, by Oliver O. Howard, and organized schools for black children in Georgia.

White left the Bureau on January 1, 1869, and on May 1 of that year was appointed assistant assessor of revenue by Edwin Belcher.

He continued to work for the Internal Revenue Service in different roles until January 1, 1880, when he resigned to give his full attention to his religious callings.

He served as treasurer of the Shiloh Association from its founding in 1870 until after 1892,[1] and was co-founder and then president of the Colored Georgia Baptist Sunday School Convention for many years starting in 1872.

[1] In 1880, White accepted the "Spurgeon Mission" of the American Baptist Publication Society, which he held for one year.

The paper was very successful and became the largest printing office exclusively owned by blacks in the country, producing both the newspaper and pamphlets.

Du Bois, Bishop Henry McNeil Turner, Judson Lyons, J. Max Barber, A. D. Williams and many others.

The organization was very vocal and wide reaching in its calls, advocating an end to Jim Crow cars on railroads, allowing African Americans to join the Georgia militia and serve on juries, better educational facilities for blacks, a more just judicial system, opposition to disfranchisement attempts, and many others.

As a result, hostile whites threatened to burn down his printing office and home and kill him if he did not leave the city.

When he returned to Augusta, his tone turned against anti-lynching leaders such as William J. Northen, calling for inter-racial cooperation.