William Augustus Bootle

William Augustus Bootle (August 19, 1902 – January 25, 2005) was a judge who helped oversee desegregation in the American south. Born in Walterboro, South Carolina, he spent his adult life in Georgia, where president Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to the United States District Court for the Middle District in 1954.

He served as Chief Judge of that court from 1961 to 1972, when he took senior status, continuing to hear cases part-time until 1981. Bootle ordered the first admission of an African-American to the University of Georgia in 1961. The federal Courthouse in Macon, Georgia is named in his honor.

He also served as acting dean and part-time professor for Mercer University from 1933-1937.