Bonnie Watson Coleman
Bonnie Watson Coleman was born in 1945 in Camden, NJ, into a family with a long legacy of public service. Her father, John S. Watson, served in World War II, became Mercer County's first African-American Freeholder in 1970, and was a six-term member of the New Jersey General Assembly for the 15th legislative district from 1982 to 1994. "There was always going to be an expectation that one of us should follow him into politics," says older brother Bill Watson. "Bonnie has that innate talent in her."
Watson Coleman's career began with the New Jersey State Division on Civil Rights in Newark in the late 1960s, where she was quickly promoted and then recruited by the New Jersey Department of Transportation's Office of Civil Rights, Contract Compliance and Affirmative Action, where she served as the first director from 1974 to 1980. She then went on to become bureau chief for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (1980) and earned her bachelor of arts degree from Thomas Edison State College (1985) before becoming Assistant Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs in 1992. During this period leading up to her decision to run for elected office, Representative Watson Coleman was already fully immersed in social justice advocacy, and a role model for other African-American women. It was during this time that Lieutenant Governor Sheila Y. Oliver met Watson Coleman and recalls being in awe of DCA Commissioner Bush-Baskette and then Assistant Commissioner Watson Coleman.
I thought it was phenomenal to see these two women of color and they commanded this big agency. And when I went to discuss with them the challenges that non-profits had in the state, they immediately connected with it, and they supported what we were doing. … Consequently, if you participated in any, any advocacy organization in the state, you were going to cross paths with her—whether it be women's political organizations, whether they were faith-based institutions … just anything you dealt with which was being a voice and advocating for disenfranchised people, you were always going to see Bonnie at the meeting.
Watson Coleman had envisioned herself working in partnership with her father as a legislator, but that partnership did not materialize. He was diagnosed with cancer and she cared for him in her home until his death in 1996. In 1998, when then Assemblywoman Shirley Turner decided to run for the Senate, Watson Coleman saw the possibility of running for the seat he once held as a way to "keep my dad alive."
She was elected to the General Assembly in 1998 and continued her father's legacy of being a trailblazer—the first African American woman to serve as a state chair of the Democratic party in New Jersey (2002); the first African American woman to hold the position of majority leader in the Assembly (2006–2010). She was an early supporter of reentry assistance, before it was politically popular to do so, sponsoring legislation to provide funding for programs and services for incarcerated persons and establishing the Prisoner's Reentry Bill of Rights and supporting the Opportunity to Compete Act of 2014, which establishes certain employment rights for persons with criminal histories.
In short, says Lt. Governor Oliver, "There's not one issue of advocacy for an underserved population or an issue that is an injustice to people, no matter where it is or what spectrum it's in—she's always been there as a consistent voice."
New Jersey Senator Loretta Weinberg, who also worked closely with Watson Coleman, states, "Bonnie was always an ally whenever it came to fighting for fair funding for organizations like Legal Services and those that serve the vulnerable populations in our state. She knew it; she knew about it; she lived it. And she got it done. And she's still getting it done, only on a bigger stage."
In 2014, Watson Coleman also made a successful bid for Congress and now represents New Jersey's 12th Congressional District in Washington—setting another precedent as the first African American woman elected to the House from New Jersey. Since taking this seat, Representative Watson Coleman cofounded with Representative Yvette Clarke and Representative Robin Kelly the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls in 2016—the first caucus geared towards Congressional policy debates on the challenges and achievements of Black women—and is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Progressive Caucus, Caucus for Women's Issues, LGBT Equality Caucus, and Asian Pacific American Caucus.
She has sponsored legislation in Congress, such as the Healthy Maternity and Obstetric Medicine Act (Healthy MOM Act of 2015), which would allow for flexibility in health coverage for women during pregnancy; the End For-Profit Prisons Act of 2017, which would require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to phase out existing contracts with private prison companies and private community confinement facilities, and the Customer Non-Discrimination Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in public accommodations.
Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman has devoted her life to helping those around her. Again, in brother Bill's words, "It's never about elevating her, as much as it is about let's make life better for somebody." They were taught early in life, he says, that what's important is what you do with your life. And "she certainly, certainly has done remarkable things with hers."