Women of USU: Then and Now, Mignon Barker Richmond and Cree Taylor

Since its earliest days, women at Utah State University have had a huge impact on the cultural, scientific, economic, and social fabric of the institution since its earliest days. The Year of the Woman shares these critical voices simply because their stories matter.

Mignon Barker Richmond (1921)

The first African-American to graduate from a college in Utah, Mignon Barker Richmond served a lifetime as a leader and activist in her community. Richmond Park in Salt Lake City is dedicated to this “Educator, Civic Leader, and Humanitarian.” 

Born in 1897, from her days as a child, Mignon was known as a hard worker. At 13, she was hired as a private housekeeper, but she graduated from West High School in 1917. She then attended the Utah State Agriculture College, now known as Utah State University in Logan, Utah. Even on campus, she encountered racism but refused to be cowed. She was a member of the Empyrean Club, a group of college women devoted to furthering discussion of important current problems, and served as its secretary-treasurer in her senior year. Mignon was an outstanding student and earned her degree in 1921 in home living, textiles, and foods.

Although credentialed, Mignon was refused work as a teacher because of racial discrimination. In 1948, 27 years after graduating from college, Mignon finally had the opportunity for employment in her field when she was hired to start the school lunch program for Stewart School at the University of Utah. Five years later, she was hired to develop home-living classes at the Utah State Industrial School, an Ogden youth-correctional facility. In 1957, she became the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Food Services Director in Salt Lake City, a position she until her retirement in 1962 at age 65. 

Service to others did not end with her retirement; during President Lyndon Johnson’s administration, she headed the Women’s Job Corps and was chairwoman of Project Medicare Alert. Mignon also served for many years with the Salt Lake Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She was the co-founder of the Nettie Gregory Center, a gathering place in Salt Lake City that provided a space for minority youth groups to become involved in recreational activities. “My life has been children,” said Mignon at age 80, when she was honored by the Salt Lake Area Black Bicentennial Committee for her achievements in education and her work as a VISTA volunteer tutoring children at Oquirrih School. USU featured her in the 125th anniversary of the institution’s founding. 

After a lifetime of service, Mignon Barker Richmond passed away in 1984 at the age of 86. She will forever be remembered for being a strong woman who advocated for civil rights and pushed racial and gender barriers to make her community and the world a place of greater opportunity for women and minority groups. Her legacy lives on. She is featured in the 2019 book, Champions of Change, a publication of the statewide celebration of women’s voting rights, Better Days 2020. 

Cree Taylor (2014, current graduate student) 

As an undergraduate, Cree Taylor was an outstanding English Teaching major and standout Track and Field athlete, completing her degree in 2014. She served on the Department of English Student Advisory Council and was named Outstanding Senior in English Teaching at graduation. She is still in the USU Track & Field Top 10 lists for both the 60m hurdles and 100m hurdles. 

In addition to her academic and athletic pursuits, Cree also worked as a tutor and mentor in the Athletics Department. She assisted student-athletes in History, Biology, and English. She also worked with students to improve their time management and study skills. Cree re-entered USU in 2018, continuing her studies at USU by pursuing a master’s in English. She is also a tutor with USU's online Writing Center. During her first year in the program, she authored a paper on the connection between one-on-one conferencing with students and tutoring, which is available at Digital Commons: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/wc_analysis/18/. During her second year in the master’s program, Cree was appointed Graduate Assistant Director of Composition, which has expanded her opportunities for mentorship and curriculum design for English 1010 and 2010 courses.

Cree is a caring, determined, hardworking student who firmly believes that English teachers have a huge impact on the lives of their students. Her master's thesis is focused on empowering black and brown voices in the classroom by using literature to help facilitate difficult discussions about race, privilege, and identity. Currently, she is interested in studying how poetry, short story, and other creative works by black and brown authors can be used to conduct discussions about language and power, code switching, microaggressions, privilege, and implicit bias with students in a way that causes them to think critically and opens them to the possibility of viewing issues from another individual's point of view. Cree is married and mother to two young children, Kenya and Marley. Her commitment to education and equal rights is testament to the legacy of those who went before her, like Mignon Barker Richmond.