The parents of Walter Thomas Bailey had been enslaved, denied the rights every White American took for granted - to read, write, marry, own land and enjoy a myriad of other basic human rights. When freed, they were simply turned loose, with no place to go and little or no skills with which to gain meaningful employment. They labored, oh so hard, to raise a family.

Walter was born into a life of hardship, one in which he was constantly exposed to adversity. Death was a constant visitor to the Bailey household as he grew up. He lost his father when he was seven years old. Of his 10 siblings, only three survived their childhoods, and one of those survivors died in her early twenties. He lost an aunt and uncle. Before Walter’s father died, the family struggled. After he died, the family became destitute.

But Walter was guided by the examples of his mother, Lucinda; his two older brothers, Harry and Henry; his older sister, Malinda (before she died); his aunt and uncle, Emily and Frank Lewis; his uncle, Lou Reynolds; and many others. He also drew inspiration from men like Booker T. Washington. Walter learned to keep reaching for the next fingerhold, the next toehold, on his path of life.

One of only a few Black Americans in Kewanee, Walter still stood out, independent of the color of his skin. Although one of only a couple of Black students at Kewanee High School, it was his talent and ability which caused people to take notice of him. At the University of Illinois, again he was one of only a few Black students. Yet, again, his ability and drive led him to become the first Black American to earn a B. S. degree in architecture from the U of I. A year later, based on that same ability and drive, he became the first Black architect licensed to practice in Illinois.

At Tuskegee, Walter finally had the opportunity to work beside and learn from other Black American architects and professionals. And, he was motivated further by Booker T. Washington and his belief that gaining economic security through building Black communities would eventually lead to equality among the races.

It was at Tuskegee where he met soon-to-be successful Black American contractors and builders. It was also in Tuskegee where he began to make connections with Black American fraternal organizations and their members, from which Walter began deriving work and making more connections.

In Memphis, at least initially, Walter may have been the only Black American architect. Again, he made connections with other Black professionals and learned more about being a Black professional while building Black communities and spaces.

Walter used those learned skills and valuable connections to move his practice to Chicago, where Black American professionals became part of the Great Migration from the South. During Walter’s time in Chicago, it had become the city with the largest Black population in the United States, if not the world. 

Walter became the first licensed Black American architect in Chicago, paving the way for others.

But being a Black American while suffering through the Depression decreased Walter’s prospects for meaningful work. However, he persevered, taking on small-scale residential work and then finding government-funded opportunities.

The abyss that was the Depression led to the Baileys having to share their home and to take on boarders, circumstances which continued through the rest of their lives.

But Walter had seen firsthand how his parents continued despite devasting hardship. He learned from them, from Booker T. Washington and other Black Americans, and he knew from his own personal experience how to carve out finger and toe holds in life to continue to try to move forward. 

Walter lived his life knowing that there was no royal road to distinction, that intellectual eminence was only achievable by relentlessly placing one hand and then one foot, one after the next, as he climbed to the summit, never succumbing to the temptation of allowing the abyss to alter his path. He met his obstacles head on and with all within him while trying to succeed, the true measure of success. Walter never allowed the yawning gulf of eternity to deter him from doing the best he could do, being all that he could be.