All I want to be is human and American and have all the same rights and I will shut up.

In 1954 Griffiths was elected as a Democrat from Michigan's 17th congressional district to the 84th Congress and was subsequently re-elected to the nine following Congresses serving from January 3 1955 to December 31 1974 in the U. She sat as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in 1956 as well as in 1968.

She attended public schools and went on to graduate with a B. In 1982 Griffiths was also the first female elected as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. in Detroit from 1941–1942 and then as the Ordnance District contract negotiator from 1942-1946.