Former U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson dedicated her life to breaking barriers.
She made history as the first Black woman elected to office in Dallas, the first nurse and Black Dallasite to serve in Congress, and only the third Texas woman to join the U.S. House of Representatives.
From 1993 to 2023, Johnson represented Texas’s 30th congressional district, earning recognition as a staunch advocate for minority rights, women’s rights, and a fervent supporter of scientific research and STEM education. Her bipartisan approach and commitment to embracing diverse perspectives have made her a respected figure across party lines.
Cheryl Brown Wattley is a professor of law at the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law, and author of the recently published book “Desire to Serve: The Autobiography of Eddie Bernice Johnson.” She joined the Standard to discuss the new book and Johnson’s legacy. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: As I understand it, Eddie Bernice Johnson personally asked you to write this book. Could you tell us about your relationship with her and what went through your mind when she first approached you with that request?
Cheryl Brown Wattley: Yes. I first met Congresswoman Johnson when she was running for the state Senate in the mid ’80s, and I got involved with her campaign and served as an attorney on that campaign. So I’ve known her over the years.
Congresswoman Johnson had been frequently asked, “are you going to write your memoir? Are you going to write your autobiography?” And she kind of played around with the idea, going “would anybody want to read it? What would my story be?”
And then around 2019/2020, she became aware that I had written a biography when I was teaching at the University of Oklahoma. And she approached me and asked me if I would help her with her project to get her autobiography written. She’d been working on it off and on, kind of here and there for several years. But at this point, she really wanted to put a focused effort on getting it done.
How did I feel? I was humbled. I was proud because I thought the congresswoman’s story should be told, and I was pleased that she trusted me enough to allow me to work with her on the telling of her story – her life story.
» RELATED: How Eddie Bernice Johnson helped shape Dallas in more than 50 years of public service
Well, the book covers her entire career, which, of course, spans decades of public service. Were there specific moments that stood out as particularly defining for her?
Well, the one that she spoke of as being kind of her proudest achievement was the free breakfast program for Texas students.
When she was in the state Senate, you know, there was a free lunch program. But as a nurse, she knew that nutrition was important to learning and that while serving lunch to people who were students who could not afford it was good, they still needed that breakfast meal to really have a great start to the day and to kind of optimize their opportunity for learning.
And so she successfully passed legislation which required school districts with certain, income demographics to provide free breakfasts to their to the students. And a couple of the school districts sued the state for that legislation. But fortunately, they won before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Texas students to this day who qualify get free breakfast. That was one of the achievements of which she was most proud.
What was the most difficult part of the process for you?
Oh my gosh. There were two things, and I write about this in the preface.
Number one: I am embarrassed to say that I had no idea about the scope of the projects and activities that Congresswoman Johnson had worked on, particularly if we go back to her time in the Texas House of Representatives all the way through to her last years in Congress. There were just so many things that she touched, so much legislation that she was a part of.
You know, some of the concerns is I don’t want to make it just a list of legislation. I want to tell the story behind it. But if I’d done that, it would have been a thousand pages. So picking and choosing – was I picking the right things to talk about?
The other challenge is that Congresswoman Johnson did not boast. I mean, she didn’t brag on herself. And the crowning example of that was we had a prominent suicide that occurred while we were writing the book. And on the news story, it made reference to the federal suicide hotline – 988. And it talked about it was the brainchild of Congresswoman Johnson, and she had never mentioned it to me.
You know, as a psychiatric nurse who was well versed in mental health issues, she saw the increase in suicide rates as a problem. So it took her several terms, but she proposed the idea of having a national suicide hotline, had to get legislative authorization to direct the Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether that was feasible, then another term to figure out how much it would cost and get a budget-appropriate allocation for it.
And then to figure out “how do we associate actual mental health services with calling the hotline?” It’s just not enough to call the hotline and get someone to talk to you through that moment of crisis, but then you want to really provide mental health services. So how do you put together a structure to get coordination through the 50 states for these mental health services?
She didn’t bring that up. I had to ask her about it. And that, to me, is a crowning achievement. You know, that’s something that literally touches lives. It’s what we want our elected representatives to do: Here’s a problem, let’s figure out a solution. Let’s get this solution implemented.
And to me, it was a classic example. And yet she didn’t bring it up.
Well, what do you hope readers take away from Eddie Bernice Johnson’s amazing life story?
I’ve thought about that a lot, especially as we go into this very heated campaign election cycle. And I think it’s a couple of things.
Number one: politics is the vehicle by which we become elected officials. It’s what you do once you have that position that really impacts people, your constituents in this country. And when it comes to governing, yes, she focused on minority and women’s rights, but she did so much just for North Texas and for the country and for the nation.
I mean, she helped write the constitutions in Bosnia, making sure that women’s rights were recognized and embedded in the Bosnian constitution. So once a person gets to that office, they have such opportunity to do good. And your hope is always that will be what is their motivation: “How can I define a problem and solve the problem, not make them worse?”
The other thing I think I hope is the take away is the power of the individual. You know, each of us can make a contribution. Each of us can favorably impact our world, our communities. But we have to have the desire to serve. It can’t be about us. It has to be about what our work and labors can do for others.
And so when she looked back on her life, she saw that everything – from being a nurse to being a congresswoman – was motivated by her desire to help others. Her desire to be of service. And I hope that becomes a message for everyone.
