Katie Hall

Katie Beatrice Hall (born April 3, 1938), served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1982 to 1985. She was born Katie Beatrice Green in Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, Mississippi. She attended the public schools of Mound Bayou. Hall received a B.S. from Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, Mississippi in 1960 and an M.S. from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana in 1968.

Hall served as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives 1974–1976 and a member of the Indiana Senate 1976–1982. She was a delegate to the Democratic Mini Convention in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1978. Hall chaired the Indiana State Democratic convention in 1980. Following the sudden death of Congressman Adam Benjamin in September 1982, Hall won a special election to fill the vacancy. She was appointed the Democratic nominee over more experienced candidates by the black mayor of Gary, Indiana who was also serving as the head of the 1st District's Democratic committee. She would go on to defeat the Republican candidate (who spent just $10,000 in his campaign) in the 1982 general election by only 56% to 43% despite it being an overwhelmingly Democratic district. In her first primary, 1984, the white Democrats ran two candidates, former Benjamin aide Peter Visclosky and Lake County prosecutor Jack Crawford. Many thought the two candidates would split the anti-Hall vote, but Visclosky prevailed with 34% to Hall's 33% and Crawford's 31%. Hall ultimately served as a Democrat in the last months the 97th Congress and the entire term of the 98th Congress.

Following her primary defeat she became vice chair of the Gary, Indiana Housing Board of Commissioners. She later served as city clerk of Gary, Indiana from 1985 to 1993. In both 1988 and 1990 she made unsuccessful attempts against Visclosky in the Democratic primaries.

Katie hall led the Capitol Hill drive to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday. On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law.

In May 2002, Katie Hall, again serving as Gary City Clerk, and her daughter, Chief Deputy Clerk Junifer Hall, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, extortion, and mail fraud. Junifer Hall was also charged with five counts of perjury. Katie Hall eventually pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to house arrest and probation. Junifer Hall was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison.^[1]

Hall presently resides in Gary, Indiana.

Bibliography

Catlin, Robert A. “Organizational Effectiveness and Black Political Participation: The Case of Katie Hall.” Phylon 46 (September 1985): 179–192.

• Katie Hall at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress