The first Black woman to represent Michigan in Congress Barbara Rose-Collins has passed away at the age of 82 from COVID-19 complications.
Rose-Collins’ family made the declaration Thursday according to media reports. Rose-Collins was vaccinated against coronavirus, however, due to advanced age and underlying health problems, she contracted the illness and passed, said her grandson Bruce Simpson.
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“My grandmother was not only an inspiration to many, but a guiding light in my path to be of service to citizens in my community,” Simpson, who was appointed last year by the Detroit City Council to be the City of Detroit Ombudsman according to the Detroit Free Press.
Former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young served as a mentor to Rose-Collins early in her political career when she was elected to the Detroit Board of Education. Three years later, Rose-Collins was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives serving three terms before she was elected to the Detroit City Council in 1981.
In 1990, Rose-Collins made history being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, when Congressman George Crockett III, who she lost to in 1988, retired.
Alisha Bell, chair of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, told the Free Press that Rose-Collins was a role model for Black women “and for women in general in metro Detroit.”
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