Politics / Law
Rashida Tlaib
born 1976 · politician, lawyer
Southwest Detroit native who became the first Muslim woman in the Michigan Legislature and, from 2019, one of the first two Muslim women in Congress.
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rashida Tlaib was born in Detroit in 1976, the eldest of fourteen children of working-class Palestinian immigrants; her father worked on a Ford assembly line. She grew up in Southwest Detroit, graduated from Southwestern High School in 1994 and earned a political science degree at Wayne State University before law school. In 2008 she won a seat in the Michigan House for a Southwest Detroit district, becoming the first Muslim woman in the state legislature. After term limits ended her House service, she worked at the Sugar Law Center, a Detroit nonprofit offering free legal help to workers. In 2018 she was elected to Congress from the Detroit-based 13th district; after redistricting she has represented the 12th district since 2023. She is known for pressing environmental and anti-poverty causes in her district and for her outspoken positions on Palestine.
Highlights
- First Muslim woman in the Michigan Legislature (2009–2014)
- Elected to the U.S. House in 2018, among its first two Muslim women
- Graduate of Southwestern High School and Wayne State University
- Former attorney at Detroit's Sugar Law Center
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
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 · 1990–1994
Southwestern High School
Demolished · 1916–2012
Her high school (class of 1994); it closed in 2012 and the 1922 building was demolished in 2022–2023.
Studied here · 1994–1998
Wayne State University
She earned her B.A. in political science here in 1998.
Worked here · 2015–2018
Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice
Detroit nonprofit law center where she represented workers after leaving the state House.