From Ming Quong to Sheng Thao, we celebrate Mills’ AAPI Heritage this month with a talk by Catherine Ladnier, class of ‘70. Catherine is a storyteller working on a series of epistolary plays from the lives of an American family during the Depression and WW2-era. Her play, A Future Day of Radiant Peace, explores the experience of Japanese American Mills College students who corresponded from internment camps with Mills College president Aurelia Henry Reinhardt during WWII. Come and learn about Amy, Grace, and other incarcerated Mills students whose resilience still inspires during these difficult times, as well as the influence of Hawaii's Queen Kapiolani.

We will also take this opportunity to honor Oakland’s first Hmong mayor and the most prominent Hmong American officeholder in the United States to date. Sheng Thao was a single mother bettering her life when she studied at Mills, starting at Laney College and graduating from Cal Berkeley.

Each month at CommuniTEA we drink tea, socialize, play a game, and learn about a featured alum. We also have a share table for backyard fruits and flowers and other offerings.