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Bilbo was born on October 13, 1877, during the year [[Reconstruction]] ended, in Juniper Grove, Mississippi.<ref name=msencyclopediabio/> At the age of fifteen, he enrolled in public schools and graduated four years later, subsequently entering a career of teaching briefly. He attended Peabody College and Vanderbilt Law School though graduated from neither institution.<ref name=msencyclopediabio/>

Bilbo was born on October 13, 1877, during the year [[Reconstruction]] ended, in Juniper Grove, Mississippi.<ref name=msencyclopediabio/> At the age of fifteen, he enrolled in public schools and graduated four years later, subsequently entering a career of teaching briefly. He attended Peabody College and Vanderbilt Law School though graduated from neither institution.<ref name=msencyclopediabio/>

Bilbo's political career began in the [[Progressive Era]],<ref name=fleegler,p.6>Fleegler, Robert L. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220310171829/https://www.mississippihistory.org/sites/default/files/bilbo.pdf Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism, 1938–1947], p. 6. ''Internet Archive''. Retrieved December 18, 2022. ran for a circuit clerk position though lost to a "one-armed Confederate veteran."<ref name=msencyclopediabio/> He later was elected a state senator, serving from 1908 to 1912.

Bilbo's political career began in the [[Progressive Era]],<ref name=fleegler,p.6>Fleegler, Robert L. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220310171829/https://www.mississippihistory.org/sites/default/files/bilbo.pdf Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism, 1938–1947], p. 6. ''Internet Archive''. Retrieved December 18, 2022.</ref> ran for a circuit clerk position though lost to a "one-armed Confederate veteran."<ref name=msencyclopediabio/> He later was elected a state senator, serving from 1908 to 1912.

==Statewide office, 1912–20==

==Statewide office, 1912–20==