Politics
Brenda Lawrence
born 1954 · postal worker, mayor of Southfield, congresswoman
Northeast Detroit native and 30-year postal worker who became Southfield's first Black and first woman mayor and then represented eastern Detroit and Oakland County in Congress (2015–2023).
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 71- Birth name
- Brenda Lulenar
- Detroit years
- 1954–
- Field
- Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Brenda Lawrence was born in Detroit in 1954 and raised by her grandparents on Lumpkin Street on the city's northeast side after her mother died when she was three. She graduated from Pershing High School and later from Central Michigan University. She met her husband, a UAW member at Ford, outside the corner store where he worked on the East Side, and they bought their first home on Detroit's northwest side. She spent thirty years with the U.S. Postal Service, rising into human resources. Moving into politics through the PTA, she served on the Southfield school board and city council, and in 2001 became the suburb's first African American and first woman mayor, serving until 2015. After runs for Oakland County executive and lieutenant governor, she won the 14th congressional district in 2014, which stretched from downtown and eastern Detroit to Pontiac and Farmington Hills. She served four terms and retired in 2023.
Highlights
- U.S. representative for Michigan's 14th district, 2015–2023
- Mayor of Southfield, 2001–2015 – its first Black and first woman mayor
- Thirty-year career with the U.S. Postal Service
- Graduate of Detroit's Pershing High School
- Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Michigan in 2010
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
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 · 1968–1972
Pershing High School
Northeast Detroit public high school she graduated from.