DALLAS – When former State Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson retired early last year after 30 years in Congress, she handpicked her successor in then State Representative Jasmine Crockett.
“She was intentional. She said, ‘I want it to be a woman.’ These are these things she’s always advocated for. Women. Women to have a place at the table, women to have the freedoms they deserve,” said Crockett, who won election to Johnson’s previous seat earlier this year.
Crockett says Johnson didn’t just endorse her. She postponed knee surgery to work the polls.
“People have no idea how hard she worked to make sure that I got elected.”
Johnson broke multiple glass ceilings. In 1972, she became the first Black woman to represent Dallas in the Texas Legislature.
And in 1992, she was only the third woman from Texas elected to Congress.
“She never led with ‘I was the first this’ or ‘I was the first that’ because it wasn’t about that for her. It was about the work,” said Crockett.
Johnson was working as the chief psychiatric nurse at the Dallas VA Hospital, an accomplishment in itself, when political leaders took notice of her advocacy.
“(She was) protesting stores in downtown Dallas that would not allow Black folks to come in and try out clothes and shoes before they purchased things,” said Crockett.
Johnson, she says, was also a staunch ally of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Before there was this thing called a progressive, she was one! In the 70s!” she said.
Once in office, Johnson became what Crockett calls a quiet storm.
“She just did what needed to be done. It didn’t matter if it was covered in the news,” said Crockett.
Among the proudest accomplishments Johnson shared with CBS News Texas before her death were helping UT Arlington and UT Dallas become tier one research facilities, helping pass the law to end flight restrictions at Love Field, helping DART secure funding to build the green line from Southeast Dallas to DFW airport, and cosponsoring the bill that created a national suicide prevention hotline.
She also championed STEM education for women and became in 2019 the first woman and the first person of color to chair the US House Science, Safety, and Technology Committee.
Despite her busy calendar, though, Crockett says Johnson made time to encourage and mentor her over late night phone calls.
“Those are great talks. It sounds like we were probably two little dorks visiting late at night talking politics,” said Crockett.
At the center of it all, Crockett says, was Johnson’s dedication to the people she served.
“When it comes down to someone who had a pure heart that was looking out for the people that would not sleep because she was caring for this district. That was Eddie Bernice Johnson,” she said.
