Politics / Labor
Brenda Jones
born 1959 · union leader, city council president, congresswoman
Cass Tech graduate and telephone-workers' union president who led the Detroit City Council (2014–2022) and briefly served in Congress after John Conyers resigned.
- Born
Birmingham, Alabama
age 66- Birth name
- Brenda B. Jones
- Also known as
- Brenda B. Jones
- Detroit years
- 1960s–
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Brenda Jones was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1959, and her family joined the Great Migration to Detroit, where she went through the public schools, graduated from Cass Technical High School and earned a psychology degree and a graduate certificate at Wayne State University. She worked for Michigan Bell and rose to president of her local of the Communications Workers of America. Elected to the Detroit City Council in 2005, she served from 2006 to 2022 and was chosen council president in 2014, holding the post through the city's exit from bankruptcy and its first years of recovery. After John Conyers resigned in December 2017, she won the 2018 special election for the rest of his term, serving in the House from November 29, 2018, to January 3, 2019, while narrowly losing the primary for the full term to Rashida Tlaib; she lost to Tlaib again in 2020. Her short House tenure raised questions about holding two offices at once, which she resolved on ethics committee advice.
Highlights
- President of the Detroit City Council, 2014–2022
- Detroit City Council member, 2006–2022
- U.S. representative for Michigan's 13th district, November 2018 – January 2019
- President of a Communications Workers of America local
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1970s
Cass Technical High School
Detroit's selective public high school, from which she graduated.
Worked here · 2006–2022
The Spirit of Detroit
Seat of the City Council, which she led as president from 2014 to 2022.