Received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and served as an intern in Washington, D.C., doing research and writing for the Defense Policy Analyst of the Northeast-Midwest Coalition and Institute.  She received her Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center after completing half of the requirements at the Baylor University College of Law.  Bailey was recognized on the Honors List at the Baylor College of Law and was granted membership in the Order of the Coif and the Order of the Barons, legal scholastic societies, at the University of Houston Law Center.  She practiced law in Texas for several years and worked as a policy analyst in the Houston Mayor’s Office.  In 2007, Bailey's article Matrimony and the Mayors: Three First Ladies of Houston was published in Houston History magazine. In 2009, Bailey was named one of the “Great Women in Government” at “A Tribute to Trailblazing Women Leaders at City Hall”.  Bailey is passionate about the preservation of historic African American cemeteries and the history that can be learned from them.   

​Jenny Bailey gave two lectures as a 2012 Scholar-in-Residence on her research of Houston's College Park Cemetery.

​Hearts and Minds: From the Lives and Times of Houston's College Park Cemetery 

​Houston's College Park Cemetery: The Land Reveals History