A portrait of longtime Shelby County Commissioner Walter L. Bailey Jr. was unveiled at The National Civil Rights Museum Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, commemorating the legendary civil rights attorney for decades of public service.

The portrait rises five feet and was painted by Memphis native Carl Hess, a nationally acclaimed artist whose subjects include President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Bishop T.D. Jakes and a 14-portrait series for Tyler Perry’s sound stages in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bailey is perhaps best known as a lawyer representing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the sanitation workers’ strike of 1968, and also took on several high-profile legal battles to desegregate Memphis schools.

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Bailey’s most famous legal success was a Supreme Court case establishing that law enforcement could not use deadly force when a suspect is fleeing unless his or her life is threatened.

This landmark decision remains a standard for law enforcement officers today.

Bailey served four decades and eleven terms in public office, beginning in 1971 with his election to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. He retired in 2018 making him the longest-serving member of the Board of Commissioners.

In 2018 the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center, known as 201 Poplar, was renamed the Walter L. Bailey, Jr. Criminal Justice Center.

The portrait of Bailey will be featured publicly at this location.

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“Words can’t express the appreciation I have and how emotionally I’m touched for having the opportunity to come here and acknowledge this commemoration,” Bailey said. “And when I say commemoration, I’m not just talking about the history of Walter Bailey. I’m talking about the commemoration of those who have preceded me.”

Bailey mentioned Benjamin L. Hooks, A.W. Willis and Russell Sugarmon as some of the predecessors that inspired his drive to fight for civil rights amid the socially and politically tumultuous period of the 1950s and 60s, during which he also worked with other notable attorneys and activists.

“These are the forerunners of the Civil Rights Movement, and they were known as ‘movement lawyers,’ ” Bailey said. “Those movement lawyers, I should say, will invest you with that crusading spirit when you get around them, and you get radicalized being around them.”

Bailey noted the vigor and spirit of the lawyers he worked with while an attorney and activist and how it influenced his own commitment to public work. 

“Nobody has to tell you when you see wrongs being inflicted in the community upon those who are the underdogs, and those who are exploited,” Bailey said. “You don’t ask yourself the question ‘should I be involved.’ You say ‘Damn, what can I do to right that wrong?’ ”

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Numerous local politicians and community members were in attendance including Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, former Memphis and Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton, former Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, Chairman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners Mickell M. Lowery, former Shelby County Commissioner Terry Roland and Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner.

Luttrell noted during his many years of knowing and working with Bailey he was a consummate professional who never raised his voice in anger and respected his peers at all times whether he could help them or not. 

“While on the County Commission I know there were days where I had his support, and days when I didn’t have his support,” Luttrell said. “But Walter Bailey was always there to let me know where he stood, while he stood.

“Folks, that’s the art of politics.”

“My challenge was bringing him to life and bringing that smile to life. “It was literally painting a living icon.”

Carl Hess
nationally acclaimed artist

Artist and native Memphian Carl Hess says the portrait took four months to complete. Prior to the painting process, Bailey sat for a photoshoot producing photos which Hess worked off of for the oil painting. 

The painting portrays a prominent and well-known feature of Bailey: his smile.

“My challenge was bringing him to life and bringing that smile to life,” Hess said. “It was literally painting a living icon.”

Hess noted that while discussing the commissioned work with Shelby County government he did a walk-through at 201 Poplar to get a better sense of where the portrait would be and what effect it could have on viewers.

“I thought about the background, environment, the name and purpose of the building,” Hess said. “We really wanted to capture his spirit and the optimism he carried throughout his entire career to people in the building and people who would see it.”

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Hess said Bailey was an ideal figure for portraiture and evokes a sense of reassurance through the artwork.

“I believe ultimately he is the perfect figure,” Hess said. “He has that gravitating smile where people say, ‘ok, this chocolate, white-haired man obviously showing wisdom, and that smile,’ it just put the final touches on his legacy, and the iconic figure he has become in Memphis.”