Bailey, James W., Jr.
(born: August 23, 1939)In 1985, James W. Bailey, Jr., a barber, and a farmer, became the first African American elected to the West District Magistrate of the Simpson County, KY Fiscal Court. For eight years, he was a deputy jailer at the Simpson County Detention Center. Bailey served on several boards including the Planning and Zoning Committee.
He was a graduate of Tyler Barber College in Memphis, TN. He was also a veteran of the U.S. Army. As a farmer, James W. Bailey, Jr. was awarded the Outstanding Pork Producer of 1994; he was awarded the Outstanding Farmer of 1995; and the Outstanding Member of the South Central Kentucky Pork Producers in 1999.
James W. Bailey, Jr. was born in Nashville, TN, the son of Gladys James and James W. Bailey, Sr. The family moved from Tennessee to Jonesville near Bowling Green, KY. They later moved to Franklin, KY.
For more see "Kentucky's only black sheriff in Christian County," in 1988 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Seventh Report, by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, p. 17; "February Black History Month: James W. Bailey, Jr.," The Franklin Favorite, 02/28/2014, p.TMC6.