[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 57 (Thursday, April 10, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2939-S2940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      JULIA M. CARSON POST OFFICE

  Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, Senator Lugar and I honor Congresswoman 
Julia Carson by urging the Senate to support the legislation, S. 2534, 
which will designate a U.S. Post Office in Indianapolis in her name.
  The U.S. Postal Service recommended the Mapleton Station Post Office 
in Indianapolis be the location named in her honor. Congresswoman 
Carson was not only instrumental in the erection of the new Mapleton 
Station, which opened its doors at a new location on July 15, 2005, but 
she also attended the dedication ceremony for the new building on 
August 11, 2005. This new, attractive building will be a terrific sign 
of respect for her.
  Congresswoman Carson was born on July 8, 1938, in Louisville, KY. 
When she was only 1 year old, Julia and her family moved to 
Indianapolis. Carson graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1955 
and attended Martin University in Indianapolis and Indiana University-
Purdue University at Indianapolis.
  Julia Carson's political career began when she was working in the 
Indianapolis office of former Congressman Andy Jacobs, who served 15 
terms as the Congressman from Indianapolis, 10th District, Indiana. 
Jacobs encouraged Carson to run for the Indiana House of 
Representatives. Elected in 1972, Carson served in the Indiana House of 
Representatives for 4 years. In 1976, after serving in the Indiana 
House, Julia Carson successfully ran for a seat in the Indiana Senate, 
where she continued to serve Hoosiers for 14 years. In that position, 
Julia Carson gave unfailing support to Indiana's successful 
ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and supported legislation to 
improve women's economic status, such as the bill she advocated to 
include household workers in the minimum wage.
  After serving in the Indiana Senate, Carson became a trustee for 
Center Township of Marion County, an area comprised of downtown 
Indianapolis, where she instituted aggressive measures to help the 
city's homeless and trimmed the inflated welfare rolls by imposing new 
rules that required able-bodied recipients to work or attend school as 
a condition of receiving poor relief. In 1992, Julia Carson was 
declared Woman of the Year by the Indianapolis Star for her efforts to 
improve welfare and create a fiscal surplus in Marion County. Her 
dedication to Indianapolis continued to the U.S. House of 
Representatives. In 1996, Andy Jacobson retired from the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and Carson successfully won his seat, representing 
what was then Indiana's 10th Congressional District. Representative 
Julia Carson is only the third woman and second African American to be 
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana.
  As Congresswoman, Julia Carson is best remembered for her leadership 
awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks for her 
instrumental role in the civil rights movement. Carson worked closely 
with Senator Evan Bayh on initiatives to establish a program that would 
promote more responsible fatherhood by creating educational, economic, 
and employment opportunities. She also worked with

[[Page S2940]]

Senator Richard Lugar to improve children's health care.
  While in Congress, Julia Carson served on the Committee of Financial 
Services, the Subcommittee of Financial Services and Consumer Credit, 
the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, the Subcommittee on Railroads, 
Pipelines and Hazardous Material, and the Subcommittee on Highways and 
Transit. Carson was also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. 
Throughout her 10 years in Congress, Julia Carson worked tirelessly for 
the poor and forgotten.
  Shortly after announcing her diagnosis with terminal lung cancer, 
Julia Carson died on December 15, 2007, at age 69. At her funeral 
service, those who spoke all said Carson, the daughter of an unwed 
teenage mother who worked as a housekeeper, never forgot where she came 
from. Therefore, it is only fitting that the Congress designate a post 
office in the name of Julia M. Carson in her hometown of Indianapolis.

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