Amy Bailey

Amy Bailey, PhD is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), affiliated with the Institute for Health Research and Policy and the University of Washington’s Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology. She holds a PhD and MA from the University of Washington and a BA from UC Santa Cruz. Her work bridges historical violence analysis, racial inequality, and public health, with a focus on lynching’s legacies and contemporary societal impacts.

Her research examines how historical mob violence correlates with modern outcomes like infant mortality and political behavior. She has constructed groundbreaking datasets on lynching victims and ZIP code boundaries, funded by NIH, NSF, and institutional grants. Bailey’s award-winning book Lynched: The Victims of Southern Mob Violence coauthored with Stewart Tolnay, redefined understandings of lynching’s social dimensions. She also investigates military enlistment patterns, incarceration linkages, and veteran mobility.

Bailey serves as Deputy Editor of Demography, previously edited Sociological Perspectives, and chairs the American Sociological Association’s Peace, War, and Social Conflict section. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates sociology, demography, and historical methods.

• Key Research: Lynching’s historical and contemporary impacts, military-institutional inequality, veteran demographics
• Publications: Over 30 peer-reviewed articles in top journals like American Sociological Review and Demography
• Data Contributions: Lynch victim census records, ZIP code crosswalk datasets

Her work challenges colorblind narratives through experiential learning initiatives and advocates for evidence-based policy addressing systemic inequities rooted in historical violence.