Carson, Julia, 1938-2007

Julia May Carson (July 8, 1938 – December 15, 2007), born Julia May Porter, was a member of the United States House of Representatives for Indiana's 7th congressional district from 1997 until her death in 2007 (numbered as the 10th District from 1997 to 2003). Carson was the first woman and first African American to represent Indianapolis in the U.S. Congress. She was also the second African American woman elected to Congress from Indiana, after Katie Hall, and her grandson André Carson succeeded to her seat following her death.

Carson was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Her mother, Velma V. Porter, unmarried and a teenager, moved to Indianapolis while Julia was still a girl and worked as a domestic to support her family. Julia also worked part-time, waiting tables, delivering newspapers, and harvesting crops, among other jobs to support her family before graduating from Crispus Attucks High School in 1955, as well as while attending Martin University in Indianapolis and Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis. She was a member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority. She also married after graduation, and had two children, Sam and Tonya, but divorced Carson while the children were still young.

In 1965, while a single mother and working as a secretary at UAW Local 550, Carson was hired away by newly elected congressman Andrew Jacobs Jr., a Democrat, to do casework in his Indianapolis office. When his own electoral prospects looked dim in 1972 (which turned out to be a Republican landslide), Jacobs encouraged Carson to run for the Indiana House of Representatives, which she did. She won election from the central Indianapolis district in 1972, and re-election. She served as a delegate for four years and rose to become assistant minority caucus chair. In 1976, at the urging of fellow Democrats, Carson arranged for prominent local businessman and fellow Democrat Joseph W. Summers to run for her house seat, as she successfully ran for the Indiana Senate. She won re-election and ultimately served in the Indiana Senate for 14 years, sitting on its finance committee and eventually holding the minority whip position before retiring in 1990.

In 1990 Carson won election as the Trustee for Center Township (downtown Indianapolis), seemingly a step down from her legislative post, but with a considerable budget and administrative responsibilities. She remained in this position for six years until running for Congress to replace Andrew Jacobs, Jr. Despite being outspent in the Democratic primary and facing a white, Republican opponent in a district more than two-thirds white and conservative-leaning, Carson triumphed, winning election to the 105th Congress. She would go on to serve in the House of Representatives for nearly eleven years, until her death in Indianapolis on December 15, 2007.