Bailey, Josiah W.
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Bailey, Josiah W.
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Josiah W. Bailey, Meredith College trustee (1896–1911) and editor of the Biblical Recorder (1895–1907), defended the use of violence and intimidation at the polls as a “necessary evil” that was regrettable but appropriately employed to secure White supremacy.
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Josiah Bailey was born in Warrenton, North Carolina, raised in Raleigh, and graduated from Wake Forest University. In June 1895, he took the role of official editor of the Biblical Recorder. He maintained this position until 1907. In the 1930s and 1940s, he served as a Democratic U.S. senator from North Carolina. Bailey joined Furnifold M. Simmons, state Democratic chairman, and Charles B. Aycock, Democratic governor candidate, in the 1898 "white supremacy" campaign that ousted Populists, African Americans, and Republicans from state government. He advocated for women's suffrage in 1917 at the N.C. General Assembly. Conservative Democrats like Bailey fought against allowing black people to vote. He said that he didn't want them and that the GOP shouldn't have them. In his first term (1930-1936), Bailey weakly opposed the expansion of the federal government. Once reelected, he created a bi-partisan coalition to resist Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and was a signatory of the Conservative Manifesto that emphasized state rights, home rule, and local self-government. Bailey believed this approach would revive businesses' confidence and spur on recovery. He also believed that state rights were important for allowing Southern states to maintain segregation. In 1938, Bailey wrote in “Christian Duty and Social Equality” that any sign of White-Black social familiarity was grounds for lynching.
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September 14, 1873
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December 15, 1946
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