Remembering Professor David T. Bailey

In the final year of my undergraduate studies, I met Dr. David T. Bailey at Michigan State University. 

Professor Bailey was one of my instructors at the start of a new school year. As a senior eager to complete my last year as an undergraduate student, I was committed to completing all my course requirements in a timely manner with hopes of having a light workload. Upon entering his course, it has been an experience working with Professor Bailey. For his class, he went beyond the typical course structure of just writing papers and having lectures and class discussions about history. In doing so, he proposed that all of the students create a website on anything that has to do with history. Because this assignment allotted us students unlimited creativity, that ignited me to want to do something big, and something that I would be proud of. This website that we had to create would be accessible to the broader public. As an education major, I wanted to create a website that catered to k-12 schools. Regarding the historical content, I wanted to highlight the great thinkers and innovators of African Americans. Professor Bailey has pushed me to challenge my mind and creativity and as a result, BlackMVPatents has been brought to life. He is a beloved intellectual, educator and mentor and he will be truly and greatly missed.

Below is one of his final interviews reflecting on his career. In "Learning From My Students" presented by MSU LOCUS, Dr. Bailey highlights the creator of BlackMVPatents: Art of Innovation.

For further information about David Bailey please go to http://bailey.history.msu.edu/