[1] She was a literary critic and professor of Literature, Creative Writing and Research Methods in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University.

[2] She was forced into exile in 1982 from Kenya during the Daniel Arap Moi dictatorship for activism and moved to teach in the United States, and later Zimbabwe.

[15][16] In 1993, Mũgo joined Syracuse University,[2] where she taught Orature, Creative Writing, Caribbean Women Writers and Research Methods in the Department of African American Studies (AAS).

[5][19][20][21] Mũgo was the founder of the United Women of Africa Organization (UWAO) and a co-founder and President (at the time of her death) of the Pan African Community of Central New York (PACCNY).

Mũgo, who had been outspoken about having had multiple myeloma cancer for sixteen years,[22] died on 30 June 2023, at the age of 80,[23][24] in Syracuse, New York,[25] where she was buried on 31 July in Oakwood Cemetery.

Mũgo and fellow Kenyan activist writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o co-wrote the play The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, published in 1977 and performed at FESTAC 77 in Lagos, Nigeria.

[16] Trial had its U.S. premiere in 2014 at the experimental theatre space in UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts, directed by Dr. Jaye Austin Williams and choreographed by Dr. S. Ama Wray.

"[5] She is the subject of a 2023 collection of essays in her honour, Making Life Sing in Pursuit of Utu: The Micere Githae Mugo Story (Bookcraft, 2022), edited by D. Ndirangu Wachanga,[34] her biographer and a professor of media studies and information science at the University of Wisconsin, who also made a documentary film of the same title.