William D. Mackey was an attorney and key figure in the fight to increase funding for the Indiana Fair Employment Practices Program.
Mackey was born March 23, 1913, in Marvell, Arkansas.
At around the age of seven, his family moved to Gary, Indiana, where his father operated a grocery store.
He attended the Gary public schools, graduating from Roosevelt High in 1931.
He graduated from Lincoln University Law School in 1947, and in 1962 he was awarded a M.S. degree by Butler University.