Before his passing, Bailey hosted all of Voices of the Civil Rights Movement’s “Moments in Civil Rights History” segments.

Bailey's 1993 book, “Mine Eyes Have Seen: Dr. Martin Luther King’s Final Journey,” focused on the period following King's assassination. His 2009 book, “The Education of a Black Radical,” recounts Bailey’s personal history in the civil rights movement.

From 1967 to 1968, Bailey worked in New York as National Director of the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council, providing hundreds of volunteer law students to assist civil rights lawyers primarily in the South.

His interest in civil liberties issues also led Bailey to film, where he portrayed a judge in the 1999 film “The People vs. Larry Flynt.” He had roles in seven other movies, including portrayals ranging from a minister to a street-hustling pool player. He was a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

As a lawyer, Bailey practiced law for 16 years in Memphis before being elected as a judge on the Circuit Court of Tennessee’s Thirtieth Judicial District in 1990. He presided over a nationally recognized trial lasting four months in 1999, in which three major tobacco firms were acquitted of wrongdoing in contributing to the deaths of smokers. He was also twice nominated to serve on the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Bailey lectured at law schools, including Harvard University, Loyola in California, Washington and Lee, Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt, and Notre Dame University. He also published legal articles at the law schools of Harvard, the University of Toledo, Washington and Lee, and Howard University. Bailey served on the executive committee of the Tennessee Judicial Conference. He received his law degree from Yale University in 1967. On May 23, 2010, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Bailey appeared regularly on television as a weekly “Political Insider” guest commentator on FOX13 in Memphis.

Bailey passed away on July 12, 2015, at the age of 73. He is survived by his wife, Adrienne Marie (Leslie), and two adult sons, Justin and Merritt. In his honor, the Shelby County Commission in Tennessee voted to rename the county courthouse the Judge D’Army Bailey Courthouse.