Janice Mirikitani Biography – Janice Mirikitani Wiki
Janice Mirikitaniwas a Japanese-American (Sansei) poet and activist who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of her adult life. After participating in the Asian American Political Alliance, she joined Third World Communications and became the editor of Aion, the first Asian American literary magazine, from 1970-1971. She edited two anthologies for Third World Communications: Third World Women (1972) and Time to Greez! Incantations from the Third World (1975). She then became project director for Ayumi: A Japanese American Anthology (1980).
After two years of activism for Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in 1969, she became the program director. In 1982 Mirikitani was married to Reverend Cecil Williams. That same year she was chosen as the president of the Glide Foundation, where she was responsible for fundraising and budget oversight. In 2000, she was named the second poet laureate for the city of San Francisco. The California State Assembly named her Woman of the Year for the 17th Assembly District.
She went to study at UCLA, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. During this time, she struggled with her ethnic identity, which she would later portray through her poetry. After gaining her teaching credentials, she taught in the Contra Costa School District for a year. She worked at Glide Memorial Church in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco as an administrative assistant. She then entered graduate school for creative writing at San Francisco State University, but later discontinued her studies.
Janice Mirikitani Age
She was born on February 4, 1941, in Stockton, California, United States, and passed on on July 29, 2021. She was 80.
Janice Mirikitani Husband
She was married twice. She got married to her husband, Reverend Cecil Williams in 1982. She had been previously married to her ex-husband in 1966 and ended in divorce in 1971. She had a daughter from the union.
Janice Mirikitani Children
She had one child, a daughter named Tianne Tsukiko Miller from her first marriage. Tianne was born in 1967.
Janice Mirikitani Parents
She was the daughter of Shigemi Mirikitani and Ted Mirikitani. She was born in Stockton, California. Her parents were Japanese immigrant farmers in San Joaquin County. During World War II, she was interned along with her family at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas. After the war, the Mirikitani family moved to Chicago. The painter Jimmy Mirikitani (born Tsutomu Mirikitani) was a distant cousin.
After her parents were divorced, she was brought back to a chicken farm at Petaluma, California, with her mother, where they would be near the remainder of their family. During the time that followed, Janice became the victim of sexual molestation by her step-father up to the age of sixteen and was saved from suicide only by the love and care of her grandmother. She would later speak of the pain of her incestuous abuse through her poetry.
Janice Mirikitani Death
She died on July 29, 2021, aged 80. Mirikitani died suddenly Thursday, the church confirmed in a message to supporters who were scheduled to attend a virtual justice event later in the day, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“Jan Mirikitani was one of our City’s true lights. She was a visionary, a revolutionary artist, and the very embodiment of San Francisco’s compassionate spirit,” Mayor London Breed said. “She served our most vulnerable residents for decades and provided a place of refuge and love for all.”
Janice Mirikitani Cause of Death
She died suddenly on July 29, 2021, aged 80. The cause of her death is not yet known.
