Reverend Cecil WIlliams and Janice Mirikitani

Reverend Cecil Williams and his wife Janice Mirikitani

A. Cecil Williams (born September 22, 1929) is the pastor emeritus of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church and a community leader and author. One of six children, Williams was born in San Angelo, Texas.[1] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Huston-Tillotson University in 1952.[2] He was one of the first five African American graduates of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in 1955.[3] He became the pastor of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, California in 1963, and founded the Council on Religion and the Homosexual the following year.[1] He welcomed everyone to participate in services and hosted political rallies in which Angela Davis and the Black Panthers spoke and lectures by personalities as diverse as Bill Cosby and Billy Graham.[1] When Patti Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, Williams attempted to negotiate a deal for her release.[1]

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Under his leadership, Glide Memorial became a 10,000-member congregation of all races, ages, genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and religions. It is the largest provider of social services in the city, serving over three thousand meals a day, providing AIDS/HIV screenings, offering adult education programs, and giving assistance to women dealing with homelessness, domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues. Both he and the church are featured in the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness.

Williams was married to school teacher Evelyn Robinson from 1956 until their divorce in 1976. They had two children, Albert and Kim.[2] He has been married to Janice Mirikitani since 1982.[2] He is the author of I'm Alive, an autobiography published in 1980. He collaborated with Mirikitani on the book "Beyond the Possible" (2013).

Janice Mirikitani (born February 4, 1941) is an American Sansei poet and activist. She was born in Stockton, California to Shigemi and Ted Mirikitani, who were Nisei farmers in San Joaquin County.[1] During World War II, she was interned along with her family at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas.[2] Following the war, the Mirikitani family moved to Chicago. After her parents were divorced, Janice was brought back to a chicken farm at Petaluma, California with her mother, where they would be near the remainder of their family. Janice Mirikitani attended 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.[3]

From her first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1966, Janice Mirikitani gave birth to her daughter, Tianne Tsukiko Miller in 1967. Janice Mirikitani then entered graduate school for creative writing at San Francisco State University, but later discontinued her studies. 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 1970–71. She edited two anthologies for Third World Communications: Third World Women (1972) and Time to Greez! Incantations from the Third World (1975). Mirikitani then became project director for Ayumi: A Japanese American Anthology (1980).[3]
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. The same year, she was chosen as the president of the Glide Foundation, where she was responsible for fund raising 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.

Source: Wikipedia