The Honorable Mignon L. Clyburn

Federal government appointee Mignon L. Clyburn was born on March 22, 1962 in Charleston, South Carolina to Emily England and U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn. Clyburn graduated from W.J. Keenan High School in 1980 and received her B.S. degree in business administration in 1984 from the University of South Carolina.

From 1984 to 1998, Clyburn worked as a publisher, editor, and general manager of The Coastal Times newspaper. In 1998, Clyburn became a member of the South Carolina Public Service Commission, representing South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District. She served as commission chair from 2002 to 2004, and stepped down from that position in 2009. Clyburn was nominated to the Federal Communications Commission in 2009, where she served as a FCC Commissioner until 2018. She also served as the chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Washington Action Committee and as a member of the association’s Audit Committee and Utility Commissioners.

Clyburn has been involved with many community organizations including the South Carolina State Energy Advisory Council, the Trident Technical College Foundation, the South Carolina Cancer Center board, the Columbia College board of visitors, the South Carolina Oversight Committee’s Common Ground School Improvement Committee, and Edventure Museum’s South Carolina Great Friend to Kids Committee. She served as secretary and treasurer of the Palmetto Project Board, as the chair of the YWCA of Greater Charleston, on the board of the Reid House of Christian Service, Edventure Children’s Museum, Trident Urban League, and Trident United Way. She is a life member of the NAACP and a member of The Links, Inc. and served on the South Carolina Advisory Council of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She also served as president of the Charleston County Democratic Women and Black Women Entrepreneurs.

Clyburn has received many awards and honors for her work, including being selected as the James C. Bonbright Honoree in 2006, and the recipient of the Lincoln C. Jenkins Award for business and community contributions from the Columbia, South Carolina Urban League in 2007, and named the Women’s History Month Honoree by the National Women’s History Project in 2009. She has also received awards from Omega Psi Phi and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternities, Delta Sigma Theta and Sigma Gamma Rho Sororities, Mt. Zion AME Church, Charleston Chapters of the Islamic Society, Arabian Temple and Court, and the NAACP.

Mignon L. Clyburn was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 23, 2020.