Eddie Bernice Johnson
| Eddie Bernice Johnson | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 30th district |
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Assumed office January 3, 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Member of the Texas Senate from the 23rd district |
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In office January 13, 1987 – January 12, 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Oscar Mauzy |
| Succeeded by | Royce West |
| Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 33rd district |
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In office January 9, 1973 – September 30, 1977 |
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| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Lanell Cofer |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Eddie Bernice Johnson December 3, 1935 Waco, Texas, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education |
St Mary's College, Indiana Texas Christian University (BSN) Southern Methodist University (MPA) |
Eddie Bernice Johnson (born December 3, 1935) is a politician from the state of Texas, currently representing the state's 30th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. She has been serving as a representative since 1993, when she was the first registered nurse elected to the U.S. Congress, and was re-elected in 2016. She formerly served in the Texas state house, where she was elected in 1972 in a landslide, the first black woman to win electoral office from Dallas, Texas. She also served for more than one term in the Texas senate before being elected to Congress.
Johnson had a career in nursing before entering politics. She served for 16 years as the first African-American Chief Psychiatric Nurse at the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital.
Born and reared in Waco, Texas, Johnson grew up wanting to work in medicine. She left Texas, which had segregated schools, and attended Saint Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana, where she received a diploma in nursing in 1956. She transferred to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, from which she received a bachelor's degree in nursing. She later attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and earned a Master of Public Administration in 1976.
Johnson was the first African American to serve as Chief Psychiatric Nurse at the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital. She entered politics after 16 years in that position.
Passage of civil rights legislation and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which enabled African Americans in the South to register and vote. More African Americans began to run for office and be elected.
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