Lynching in America / The Lynching of Lee Bailey

Marker Text: On September 27, 1891, a White mob brutally lynched a Black man named Lee Bailey, in DeLand, hanging him and riddling his body with bullets after kidnapping him from the Volusia County Jail. The previous morning, a White woman reported to police that she had been assaulted. Although the woman had difficulty identifying a perpetrator, outrage in the White community was immediately directed at Mr. Bailey, who had recently been employed by the woman’s husband. Almost 25% of lynchings involved allegations of inappropriate behavior between a Black man and a White woman that was often characterized as “assault.” The mere accusation of sexual impropriety regularly fueled violent mobs and ended in lynching. After the sheriff, without further investigation, arrested Mr. Bailey, some 100 White people formed a mob and marched to the jail. At around 1 a.m. on September 27, the mob broke into the jail, kidnapped Mr. Bailey, gagged him, and dragged him to the center of the 200 block of West Rich Avenue near downtown DeLand. The mob then hanged Mr. Bailey from an oak tree and then shot him at least 30 times. A newspaper reported the lynching “met with the unanimous approval” of local White citizens and police refused to arrest any mob members. Instead, law enforcement dispatched 40 officers to patrol DeLand in an effort to quash any possible protest against the lynching by Black community members. No one was ever held accountable for the lynching of Lee Bailey.