Civil rights activist Harriette Bailey Conn was the first woman and the first African American to serve as Indiana’s State Public Defender.
Civil rights activist Harriette Bailey Conn was the first woman and the first African American to serve as Indiana’s State Public Defender.
In this capacity, she defended and represented hundreds of inmates in post-conviction court proceedings.
She also served as assistant city attorney from 1968 to 1970 under then-Mayor Richard G. Lugar and wrote the Unigov Council rules. She twice won election to the Indiana House of Representatives, representing Marion County as a Republican until she resigned her legislative seat to become state public defender in 1970.
Harriette graduated in 1937 at the age of 14 from Crispus Attucks High School and went on to complete undergraduate work at Talladega College in Alabama.
She joined Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and was formerly Chi Chapter president. She was the first woman president of the school’s Little Theatre.
Returning to Indianapolis upon her graduation from Talladega, she married Clifton F. Conn Sr. and had seven children. She subsequently enrolled in the Indiana University School of Law as a night school student while raising her children.
Upon graduating in 1955 from law school, she served as an Indiana deputy attorney general from 1955-1965. Her departmental assignments included the Civil Rights Commission, Teachers' Retirement Fund and the Public Employees Retirement Fund.
Harriette was elected to the state legislature in 1966. As a representative, she advocated for abortion reform, co-authored a law requiring IUPUI and the state to pay families $2,500 over the fair market value for homes in the way of I-65 and IUPUI expansion being taken through eminent domain.
Harriette also introduced a bill that expanded women's property rights. She sponsored bills related to civil rights, aid to dependent children and private slum clearance.
Harriette Bailey Conn remained a tireless civic leader who advocated for the rights of the most vulnerable citizens. She died unexpectedly in 1981 at the age of 58, leaving both void and legacy.
