Mrs. Minion Baker Richmond, 1972

File — Box: 2, Folder: 13

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Mrs. Richmond was born in 1897 in the northern part of Salt Lake City near the capitol building. Her brother died at three or four years old. She grew up on 500 West between 100 and 200 South She did not know any other African American families near her, and as a result often played with White children who lived on the street. Her father was born enslaved and her mother was White and from London. Her father died in the 1920s, her mother in the 1930s. She had two brothers who died at birth, another who died in childhood, and one sister. They moved once during her childhood, once again to a primarily White neighborhood. Although she went to church as a young child, she began to feel discrimination in church around seventh or eighth grade and subsequently stopped going until she joined the Calvary Baptist Church just after college. She first remembers feeling true discrimination during seventh or eighth grade when the family she was working for went to Saltair to swim and she was not allowed to join them. To avoid similar prejudice in restaurants she would often go to them with a YWCA group so that she was not turned away. She remembers segregation within troops during the Second World War. She did not remember the KKK being too active in the past in Salt Lake, but states that there was a branch of it in Salt Lake at the time of the interview. She states that there was a lynching that she remembers happening in Salt Lake, although she could not recall the circumstances. She also discusses the areas that were predominantly Black in Salt Lake during the 20’s, as well as the formation of the Second South area.

Mrs. Richmond attended college at Utah State because she felt that the Home Economics program was better than what was offered at the University of Utah. She was the only African American there, but did not feel too alone as she attended with a few girls she had graduated with. The program included an emphasis on painting, plumbing, woodwork, and other things that were not common at the time in comparable programs. Mrs. Richmond eventually got a job as a maid at the University of Utah’s home economics department which she felt was due to the influence of her dad. While she lived in Logan, there were only a couple other African Americans there and one of them got in trouble for supposedly harassing a White woman. Mrs. Richmond discusses her first husband, who was a gambler. She felt discrimination at stores occasionally, where she noticed she had to wait until all of the White customers had been served before she would be helped. She also felt that when applying for jobs, her qualifications would often be overlooked because of her race. She was made a member of the American Association for University Women only with great difficulty during the fifties. She discusses what her responsibilities with the group were as well as her involvement with the USO and the YMCA.

When asked about racism that Mrs. Richmond saw elsewhere in the community, she tells a story about a teenage girl who was killed on New Year’s Eve, ending with two African American men being arrested despite highly suspect evidence. She tells a few other stories related to discrimination in Salt Lake as well, though some are disjointed. In 1928, her father walked all the way to Saltair after disappearing for three days, ended up getting arrested, and died after a blow to the head in jail. It turned out that his symptoms were actually due to ear syphilis, and this caused Richmond some amount of anxiety.

When talking about religion, Mrs. Richmond says the believes that many of the problems in the African American community stem from a lack of leadership, too many churches with too few people, and the engrained LDS Church culture working against African Americans in both obvious and subtle ways, particularly the Second Ward. She mentions her involvement with organizing a Black caucus as well as the NAACP, and some picketing of a Woolsworths she was involved in. Mrs. Richmond says that the passage of laws against discrimination has improved the situation of African Americans, particularly in terms of where they are able to eat and in terms of recreation areas. However, she says that jobs are still limited. Audio CDs A0038_B-7_01, A0038_B-7_02, A0038_B-8_01, A0038_B-8_02.

Dates

1972

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.