Nellah Massey Bailey

Nellah Massey Bailey
Mississippi State Tax Collector
In office January 19, 1948 – March 31, 1956
Governor	Fielding L. Wright Hugh L. White James P. Coleman
Preceded by	Carl Craig
Succeeded by	William Winter
First Lady of Mississippi
In role January 18, 1944 – November 2, 1946
Governor	Thomas L. Bailey
Preceded by	Clara Murphree
Succeeded by	Nan Wright
Personal details
Born	Nellah Izora Massey (1893-06-30)June 30, 1893 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Died	March 31, 1956(1956-03-31) (aged 62) Meridian, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Thomas L. Bailey ​ ​ (m. 1917; died 1946)​
Children	2

Nellah Izora Massey Bailey (née Massey; June 30, 1893 – March 31, 1956) was an American politician and librarian. She was the first lady of Mississippi from 1944 to 1946 and the Mississippi state tax collector from 1948 to 1956. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman elected to statewide office in Mississippi.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Bailey attended library school in Chautauqua, New York, and worked at the public library in Meridian, Mississippi, for thirty years. She married future governor Thomas L. Bailey in 1917. As the first lady of Mississippi, she chaired the Mississippi Joint Recruitment Campaign, a statewide canvass that encouraged women to serve in the United States Armed Forces during World War II.

In 1947, Bailey entered the race for Mississippi state tax collector. She won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election. She was re-elected in 1951 and 1955, but died three months into her third term after a series of heart attacks.