 On June 12, 1932, in the dining hall at Lincoln Academy, Kings Mountain, North Carolina, Bailey married Howard W. Thurman (1900–1981), a minister, who would become a social critic, writer and dean of several prominent US universities.At the time of their marriage, he was serving as Dean of Rankin Chapel and Professor of Systematic Theology at Howard University in Washington, D.C.In 1935, the couple embarked upon a six-month trip through southern Asia, visiting Burma, Ceylon and India, culminating in a "Pilgrimage of Friendship" to the International Student Conference in India.