Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke on Wednesday paid tribute to her trailblazing, former colleague Eddie Bernice Johnson, who died on Dec. 31. She was 88.
“Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson was a giant,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told Caribbean Life about Johnson, a political icon, who had represented North Texas’s 30th Congressional District for 30 years.
“As the first person of color and woman to chair the House Science, Technology, and Space Committee, she was pivotal in making historic investments to strengthen our economy and support HBCUs,” added Clarke, the representative for the predominantly Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn.
HBCUs are historically black colleges and universities that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with the goal of primarily serving African Americans.
Clarke noted that before Johnson sought elected office, she was enlisted as the first Black nurse at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dallas, Tx and then became the hospital’s chief psychiatric nurse, “but her service for her community did not end there.”
Not long afterward, Clarke said Johnson – who was born in Waco, Tx, on Dec. 3, 1934 – was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as the first Black woman to win electoral office in Dallas.
Clarke said Johnson left the Legislature to serve as regional director of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and then became a State Senator “before rising to serve in the US Congress in 1992.
“She served in the US Congress for 30 years, bringing home hundreds of millions of federal dollars to the Dallas area, as the region’s most powerful Democrat,” said Clarke, First Vice Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“Throughout her long and renowned career, she stood as a guiding light to many Black women, such as myself, who had the honor of working alongside her in the Congressional Black Caucus,” she added.
“As we mourn with her family, communities in the Dallas area, and many more across the nation, we must take solace in the fact that her legacy and leadership will live on within us and the rest of the lives she touched,” Clarke continued.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, whose father is retired Jamaican-born economist Donald J. Harris, described Johnson as “a visionary, a pioneer and a fighter.”
“At a young age, she witnessed and experienced the profound effects of segregation and decided she would not stay on the sidelines in the fight for justice,” said Harris in a White House statement.
“She would go on to have a trailblazing career — from becoming the first Black chief psychiatric nurse at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Hospital and the first Black woman elected to public office in Dallas, to serving in the state Legislature, becoming the first Black person to represent Dallas in Congress, and making history as the first registered nurse elected to the House of Representatives,” she added.
Throughout her long career in public service, Harris said Johnson was “always clear-eyed about what she was fighting for: the right of every person in Dallas and across the country to live free from discrimination and to have the opportunity to live up to their full potential.
“As the first person of color and woman to chair the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, she played an instrumental role in the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, which is making historic investments in our economy, innovation, and HBCUs,” the vice president said.
She said she “had the privilege to serve alongside” Johnson in the Congressional Black Caucus, adding that she knew that “so many have benefited from her tireless work, myself included.”
“Her legacy and leadership will be felt for generations to come,” Harris said.
President Joe Biden also noted that Johnson was “a dedicated nurse, state legislator and longtime US congresswoman with immense courage and a commitment to the promise of America.”
“She had unwavering dedication to the people of North Texas,” he said in a White House statement. “She and I worked together throughout her 30 years in Congress, and I’ve always been grateful for her friendship and partnership.”
Biden said Johnson turned a childhood dream to work in medicine into “a lifetime of service, fighting to get millions of Americans access to healthcare, education and opportunity.”
Early on, as the chief psychiatric nurse at the Veterans Administration in Dallas, Biden said “she helped our nation to fulfill its most sacred obligation, to care for the troops we sent into harm’s way when they’re home.
“And in the Texas statehouse and then over 30 years as the first Black American elected to Congress from Dallas, she fought to expand civil rights, to create jobs, to combat the climate crisis, and much more,” the president said.
“Recently, her leadership was crucial in passing our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and CHIPS and Science Act in 2022, creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and making sure America leads the industries of the future,” he added.
Throughout her life, and as the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Biden said she was “an icon and mentor to generations of public servants, through whom her legacy of resilience and purpose will endure.
“Jill and I send our love to her family, including her son Kirk and her grandchildren Kirk Jr, David and James; to her many friends; and to the people of Texas’ 30th Congressional District, who were so fortunate to have her as their champion for so long,” he continued.
