Lynn Hesse oral history interview, September 23, 2010

Item — othertype: Oral History

Identifier: W071_HesseL_20100923

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Lynn Hesse opens her first oral history by outlining her experience growing up in a very spiritual household as a poor, middle child. She goes onto talk about her first marriage that was verbally abusive, ultimately ending in a divorce. After her divorce she decided to take up police work, starting as a Georgia State Police Officer. Hesse discusses her decision to switch to the DeKalb County Police force, where she met Dean, her second husband. She highlights the struggle of balancing being a single mom whilst working immovable shifts during her time at the police academy and as a rookie on Southside street patrol. Hesse then moves on to point out the trials that went along with being a female police officer at that time, as well as the battles she had to rise in ranks, ultimately ending her time as a police officer as a Sergeant. Finally, she discusses her involvement in Marsha Cofield’s lawsuit against the police department for equality amongst male and female police officers.

Dates

Creation: September 23, 2010

Creator

Hesse, Lynn (Interviewee, Person)

Restrictions on Access

Oral history available for research in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room.

Biographical Note

Lynn Hesse is a former policewoman of Dekalb County, Georgia, as well as a playwright, dancer, and short story author. Born in 1951 in Chanute, Kansas, she moved with her parents to the Buckhead area of Atlanta when she was a pre-teenager. After reading The Feminist Mystique by Betty Friedan at the approximate age of 15, she self-identified as a feminist. Hesse graduated through Clayton County Academy and went to work for Georgia State University as a police officer (post-certified) in circa 1977, and subsequently became a DeKalb County police officer, rising through the ranks of Master Officer and Field Training Officer to Sergeant. During her tenure as a Dekalb County Police Officer, she was denied her application for promotional testing and her compensation for arrests was diverted to other male officers. She and several other female officers were equally discriminated against. When a class action suit could not be organized, policewoman Marsha Cofield filed an individual law suit, in which Lynne Hesse was actively involved. Cofield won her case. Following her law enforcement career, Hesse has focused on her artistic pursuits which include dance and writing. In 1996, she was graduated (cum laude) in Dance from Georgia State University. She has created an "oral history performed in dance," and play she wrote, based on her own short story, was staged at Emory's Schwartz Center.