Harriett Elizabeth Byrd family papers, circa 1880-2009

Former Wyoming State Representative, Wyoming State Senator, and elementary school teacher Harriett Elizabeth “Liz” Byrd was born April 20, 1926 to parents Robert C. “Buck” and Sudie Smith Rhone, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She attended Cheyenne public schools, graduating from Cheyenne Central High School in 1944. To pursue her dream of becoming an elementary school teacher, she chose to attend West Virginia State College. After graduating with a B.S. in education degree in 1949, Byrd returned to Wyoming and worked and taught at Fort F.E. Warren for ten years before gaining a teaching position with Laramie County School District #1. She taught elementary school for the next 27 years in Cheyenne and also earned a masters degree in education from the University of Wyoming in 1976.

In 1980, Byrd was elected to the Wyoming State House of Representatives and became the first African American legislator in Wyoming since statehood as well as the first African American woman to ever serve in the Wyoming State Legislature. After serving eight years, she ran for and won election to the Wyoming State Senate in 1988, where she served four years. She was the first African American to ever serve in the Wyoming State Senate. During her legislative career, Byrd was the prime sponsor of legislation to create Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming Equality Day.

After retirement from the legislature, Byrd remained active in the Cheyenne community along with her husband, James “Jim” W. Byrd. James Byrd also set a precedent as the first African American police chief in Cheyenne.