Liz Byrd, Wyoming’s first Black lawmaker, would’ve turned 100 years old last month. Byrd, who died in 2015, served in the Wyoming House of Representatives and eventually the state Senate.
But before her political career, she was a teacher, a career she had to fight for in the Equality State. Wyoming Public Radio’s Kamila Kudelska spoke with Cody Enterprise’s Pierce Baugh V, who wrote an article remembering Byrd on what would have been her 100th birthday.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Kamila Kudelska: You opened your profile of Liz [Byrd] with an anecdote from her childhood about “The Little Red Hen.” Tell me about what that book meant to her.
Pierce Baugh V: That book for her was really a gateway. She'd read [with] her father every night. That was her favorite book. He would ask her, ‘Hey, do you want a different book?’ And she'd be like, ‘No, this is my favorite book.’
It really made an impression with her. She brought [it] to class and “read it” – she actually really was just reciting it. She was in first grade, probably like six or seven years old.
So it was a gateway for her to realize that she wanted to be a teacher through that book and that experience. That book kind of opened up for her.
KK: What was her childhood like?
PBV: From an early age, education was definitely instilled in her. Like, ‘Hey, to get ahead, education can definitely help you succeed.’
I think from a young age, she was taught to value being educated, reading, writing and just learning all you can learn. I think that having that present at a young age definitely affected her throughout her life.
KK: Can you tell me a little bit about her family and their connection to Wyoming?
PBV: I believe in the year of 1876, her grandfather, Robert Rohn, came to Wyoming knowing that they were freed slaves and there'd be opportunities to work on the railroads, which her father ended up working railroads, as well to really create a life in a state that gave the opportunity to create a life.
I read that her grandfather was a cowboy and worked for a railroad, and that kind of established her life there. Her having that background, her family came from work, it really helped establish Wyoming's place in her heart, like, ‘Hey, there's opportunity here. We can have a life here.’ She was very proud to be from Wyoming.
KK: Why didn't she go to the University of Wyoming?
PBV: She wanted to go there. She talked about in a 2003 interview with Wyoming PBS that she was able to register for classes, but there's a caveat. They couldn't find a place for her to stay, pretty much saying, ‘Hey, you can't actually attend here.’
So what she did instead was she had a jar and put all the names of states in the jar, except Wyoming and Colorado, and said, ‘Okay, whatever name I pick out of this jar, that's where I'll go to college.’
She picked West Virginia and went to West Virginia State University, a historically Black university, which is an experience for her. She grew up in Wyoming. She was often used to being the only Black student. It really opened her up to the world. They commented on what she was wearing. She was wearing a Western jacket. So it was really a cultural experience for her just going from the West to the East and just her tenacity of being a teenager and saying, ‘I'll go wherever I pick a name out of a jar.’
KK: How did Liz end up back in Wyoming after being in West Virginia?
PBV: Her heart's always been in Wyoming. She wanted to come back here and teach. And again, she faced another barrier. A public school wouldn’t let an African American woman teach in a public classroom. So she had to find a caveat. She had to teach at the [F.E.] Warren Air Force Base.
She did that for about 10 years. She actually found it really encouraging. [She] said that was a great time in her life, she really learned a lot about herself. But after 10 years, she said, ‘Hey, I'm ready to be in a public school. That's where I want to be.’ And again, she was met with resistance.
Eventually she reached out to Gov. John Joseph Hickey and she said, ‘Hey, is there anything you can do to get me in public school?’ And he says, ‘Don't worry, I'll work something out.’
After 10 years of teaching at the Warren Air Force Base, she started teaching in public schools in 1959. Of course, she excelled. She was, I think, teacher of the year one year, and everyone who had her [as a] teacher said she was the best teacher, so she proved that she belonged there all along.
KK: How did she decide to run for Wyoming House of Representatives?
PBV: Initially, she wasn't interested in running. But her father, who was really a big motivator throughout her whole life, said, ‘I think you should run for politics.’ And she said, ‘What do you mean?’ But to honor his wishes, she did. And also, [at that] time he was dying of cancer. So she said, ‘You know what? I'm gonna do this.’
She ran [in] the primary, the Democratic primary, and she won, and she was kind of shocked. Unfortunately, between the general and the primary, her father passed away of cancer, but she said, ‘You know what? To honor him and what he encouraged me to do, I'm really gonna give my all in this election.’
And in 1980, she became the first Black legislator voted into the Wyoming Legislature. It was pretty awesome. All because her father really motivated her to do it.
KK: She was in the Legislature in the 1980s, and she faced more discrimination during that time for being a woman. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
PBV: I spoke to her son, James, who's also running for U.S. Senate right now. He said they faced constant ill treatment. She didn't open up about that ‘til later. She didn't really talk about it much. He said he didn't know until years later all she and her female colleagues had to put up with.
It's weird, because in some ways, back then the Legislature worked a lot better, it wasn't as divisive, it wasn't as partisan politics, but in a lot of ways it was a sexist environment. She just took it and everyone talked about how she held herself with dignity and grace, that she didn't let that disturb her. She just kept marching on and persisting.
KK: What achievements stand out to you from her life and why?
PBV: The big one is passing Martin Luther King Day here in Wyoming. That's probably the one she's most known for, but she was known for a lot of things.
She passed the seatbelt law. Her whole thing was she cared about kids. That's her life's focus, helping children and educating them, making sure they go on to have great lives. Seatbelts play a part in that. And she helped push that legislation through.
And also fun things, like she helped legalize the lottery here in Wyoming.
She help[ed] adults who have disabilities make sure they have more access to funds and services. So she was really fighting for the common person, the underdog. That was her whole fight in life for people, the have-nots.
KK: It's been 100 years since her birth. Why is it important to remember her?
PBV: Because when you leave a legacy like that, you need to know that your time here mattered. And it did. She really made an impact both at a political level, but just who she was as a person. When people talk about her, it's not always about her as a politician, [but] who she was as a human being, her internal qualities, her patience, her kindness, the time she'd give to people.
When someone's lived life in such a meaningful way, they deserve recognition.
