Eddie Bernice Johnson laid to rest at Texas State Cemetery

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Family, friends, and Texas lawmakers gathered at the renowned Texas State Cemetery on Wednesday to lay to rest the late Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, to whom many credited major state successes and minority victories after a historic career in public service.

Johnson retired last January after three decades in the U.S. House of Representatives, in which she became the first African American and first woman to chair the Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment. In her 1972 race for the Texas House, she broke barriers of race and gender to become the first black woman from Dallas elected to public office.

"She left behind such a legacy in the Texas House, the Texas Senate, and the U.S. Congress. She was a trailblazer. She really was a pioneer," said State Rep. Ron Reynolds, who now chairs the House Legislative Black Caucus that Johnson founded in 1973. "Sometimes, when someone's in your backyard, you don't realize what you have. But people all over the world treasured Eddie Bernice Johnson."

Burial in the Texas State Cemetery is one of the highest final honors reserved for the state's most impactful citizens. Johnson now rests beside other legendary Texans, including Stephen F. Austin, Bob Bullock, and 14 governors.

"She's earned it. She's been on the front lines since well past the seventies when it was not okay to be African American," State Chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats Candice Matthews said. "So I think that this is due time, and I think that it's well done for her to be buried in a historical place like this that did not recognize people that look like us. Her work got her here."

On Monday, President Joe Biden made his first presidential trip to Dallas to honor the late congresswoman at her wake.

Johnson was 89.