A. Peter Bailey (born February 24, 1938) is an American journalist, author, and lecturer. He was an associate of Malcolm X's and a member of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
Alfonzo Peter Bailey was born in Columbus, Georgia, on February 24, 1938, and raised in Tuskegee, Alabama.[1] He was in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1959, and attended Howard University until 1961.[1]
In 1962, Bailey moved to Harlem.[1] That June, he heard Malcolm X speak near Mosque No. 7.[2] When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964, Bailey became a founding member of his Organization of Afro-American Unity.[3] Bailey served as editor of the group's newsletter, titled Blacklash.[1] He was a pallbearer at Malcolm X's funeral in 1965.[3]
Bailey served as associate editor at Ebony from 1968 to 1975.[1] He was associate director of the Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) from 1975 to 1981, and he edited the BTA Newsletter.[1]
In 1998, he wrote Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X with Malcolm X's nephew, Rodnell Collins.[4] He wrote Revelations: The Autobiography of Alvin Ailey in 1995 based on interviews he conducted with the choreographer in the years before his 1989 death.[5] In 2013, he wrote a memoir titled Witnessing Brother Malcolm X: The Master Teacher.[2] [3]
Bailey has contributed articles to The Black Collegian, Black Enterprise, Black World, Essence, Jet, The Negro Digest, the New York Daily News, and The New York Times.[1] He writes a bimonthly column for the Trice-Edney Wire Service.[1]
Bailey has lectured about Malcolm X at three dozen colleges and universities, and taught as an adjunct professor at Hunter College, the University of the District of Columbia, and Virginia Commonwealth University.[1]