My Genealogy Hound

Prof. Julian Talbot Bailey, A. M., of Little Rock, was born near Barnett, Warren County, Ga., March 22, 1859. His parents were Pierce and Adeline Bailey, the former a native of Warren County, Ga., and the latter of Henrico County, Va. From a very early age he evinced a great desire for learning, and his mother at once wisely determined to give, if possible, her only child a complete education. After finishing the course of study pursued in the common schools of Warren and Taliaferro Counties, he was sent to the Atlanta University, where he pursued the college preparatory course, from which he graduated at the age of seventeen at the head of his class. He then attended Howard University, supplementing his previous studies with a complete college course. Since his school days his student life has not ceased, as his proficiency and distinguished position in scientific, mathematical and linguistic affairs amply indicate. His modest and retiring disposition has perhaps caused him to be less known than he otherwise might have been, but there are few young men who possess a more varied and solid scholarship than he. Soon after leaving college Mr. Bailey went to North Carolina, where he was principal for some time of the Roanoke Normal and Collegiate Institute. He also published and edited the National Enquirer in the same State until the spring of 1884, when he was offered the editorial chair of the Arkansas Herald. Considering Arkansas a more inviting field, he accepted the offer. His editorial management of the Herald was marked by signal ability and success, in consequence of which he at once received encomiums from the leading men and papers, both white and colored, throughout the State. Such was the effect of his ability as a journalist upon the Arkansans that scarcely had he edited the Herald a month before it was decided by the Arkansas Herald and Mansion Publishing Companies to consolidate the papers. He was then elected editor of the joint publication, which at once was regarded as one of the leading negro journals of the country. He continued to edit the Herald-Mansion until the fall of 1884, when he was elected professor of natural science and belles lettres of the Philander Smith University, of Little Rock. There being but little to gain from negro journalism, in a pecuniary sense, he found it necessary to resign his editorial chair to accept the position as professor in the University. In the fall of 1885 he was elected professor of higher mathematics and astronomy in the Mississippi State Normal College, which position he filled with credit to himself and his people, in addition to editing the Little Rock Sun, an independent newspaper, which is noted for its outspoken sentiments in advocacy of the race. Howard University has conferred the degree master of arts upon Prof. Bailey. During the years 1886-87 he successfully filled the presidential chair of Bethel University at Little Rock, since which time he has, in addition to his editorial duties, been actively engaged in the practice of law, being one of the very few Africo Americans who practice before the Supreme and United States courts, in addition to the inferior courts of the State. He has a large and growing practice, and his phenomenal success stamps him as one of the brightest stars in the Arkansas legal firmament. Prof. Bailey has always taken an active part in the politics of his adopted State. As a speaker he is pleasing, interesting and eloquent. He is a man of strong convictions, tender sympathies, great firmness and decision of purpose, with high personal character. He possesses severe earnestness, pluck, manly courage, aims high, is ambitious and far-reaching, with great self-reliance and self-respect.