Barbara-Rose Collins attended Cass Technical High School and later became a single mother in the late 1960s, which significantly influenced her career trajectory. Inspired by Black activist Stokely Carmichael, she pursued a career in activism and public service, serving on the Detroit Public School Board and the Michigan House of Representatives. Collins spent several years on the Detroit City Council, where she sponsored and introduced several bills aimed at social welfare and economic justice. She returned to the Detroit City Council in 2001 and remained until her retirement in 2009. Throughout her career, Collins demonstrated a commitment to legislative initiatives that sought to address systemic inequities and improve community welfare.

Barbara-Rose Collins’s political identity is marked by an ideological commitment to recognizing and valuing unwaged labor, as evidenced by her Unrenumerated Work Act. Her legislative efforts to enshrine Juneteenth as a federal holiday reflect a profound emphasis on historical acknowledgment and social justice. Collins's approach reveals a conceptual tension between traditional economic metrics and the valuation of traditionally marginalized labor, compelling a re-examination of how societal contributions are measured. Her rhetoric often underscores the moral imperative of rectifying historical injustices, suggesting a deeply principled, if unorthodox, policy stance.