Lawson Fusao Inada
Lawson Fusao Inada is a notable Japanese American poet and educator, born on May 26, 1938, in Fresno, California. As a Sansei, or third-generation Japanese American, his early life was profoundly impacted by the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, an experience that informs much of his poetry. Inada's family was forcibly relocated to detention camps, but they managed to retain their property and business post-war. Educated at prestigious institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Iowa, he began to publish significant works in the 1970s, notably "Before the War: Poems as They Happened," which marked a milestone for Asian American literature.
His poetry often explores themes of identity, racism, and the complexities of growing up in a multicultural environment, reflecting both his personal experiences and broader societal issues. Inada coedited "Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Literature," and his collection "Legends from Camp" provides poignant recollections of his childhood in the internment camps. An advocate for multiethnic literature, Inada's work also celebrates jazz music, which influences his poetic style and community engagement. He has received various accolades, including the Oregon Book Award for Poetry and served as Oregon's poet laureate from 2006 to 2010. Inada continues to share his experiences and insights through educational initiatives, advocating for understanding the Asian American narrative within the diverse tapestry of American culture.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Lawson Fusao Inada
- Born: May 26, 1938
- Birthplace: Fresno, California
Author Profile
Poet. Lawson Fusao Inada was born in Fresno, California, on May 26, 1938, to second-generation Japanese American (Nisei) parents, making him a Sansei, or member of the third-generation of Japanese Americans. His family was fairly prominent, as his grandparents had founded the Fresno Fish Market while his father became a dentist and his mother a teacher. Then, in 1942, Inada and his family, along with other Japanese Americans, were forcibly relocated to detention camps after the United States entered World War II against Japan. They were moved between camps in California, Arkansas, and Colorado, but fortunately, were able to maintain control of their property and resume the fish market business after the war. Inada's experience of incarceration from the age of four deeply influenced his development as an artist. In high school, after the war, he discovered jazz music, which would be the other great influence on his career.
Educated at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Oregon, and the University of Iowa’s famed writer’s workshop, Inada worked as a college teacher and began writing seriously. He published his first major poetry collection, Before the War: Poems as They Happened, in 1971. It was a pioneering work as the first book of poems by an Asian American author published by a major company. A groundbreaking contribution that Inada coedited was Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Literature (1974), which became very influential. Another collection of his own work, Legends from Camp (1993), includes recollections of Inada’s early childhood spent with his parents in the World War II internment camp at Amache, Colorado. Many of Inada's poems examine themes of racism and identity through this lens, and they are major works in the literary depiction of Japanese American internment.
Although designated “Relocation Camps,” the sites where 120,000 Japanese Americans were housed were, in fact, military prisons, with barracks surrounded by barbed wire fences and armed sentries. In a section of the long poem “Legends from Camp,” Inada ironically recalls: “The people were passive/ Even when a train paused/ in the Great Plains, even/ When soldiers were eating,/ they didn’t try to escape.” These poems, and some in Before the War, explore being Asian in a hostile environment. Inada’s Japanese American identity was also complicated by the fact that his parents were Christians, not Buddhists, and thus had felt isolated in the tight-knit and traditional Japanese community of Fresno. Other poems about childhood focus on Fresno, growing up in a multicultural environment with Hispanic and African American schoolmates. The poem “Rayford’s Song” poignantly depicts how a teacher’s insensitivity can unwittingly damage the child’s pride in his ethnic heritage.
Lawson contributed to several volumes of work about Japanese American history during the 1990s and early 2000s and, in 1996, published Just Intonations. In 1997, Lawson published Drawing the Line, which won the Oregon Book Award for Poetry.
Inada’s study of jazz is reflected in his performances of poetry recitations with jazz and in poems celebrating artists such as Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Mal Waldron. The collective ethos of jazz also influences Inada’s view of himself as “a community poet with a responsible role in society.” His work embraces American culture’s multiethnic roots—as exemplified by jazz music—and an attempt to understand his Asian cultural background. “Tradition is a place to start,” he has written, and in “On Being Asian American,” he writes: “Distinctions are earned, / and deserve dedication.” Inada’s own distinctions have included the American Book Award for Legends from Camp, appointment as Oregon State Poet in 1991, and a stint as Oregon's fifth poet laureate from 2006 to 2010. As a professor at Southern Oregon University (formerly Southern Oregon State College) and an expert in multiethnic American literature, Inada also helped to direct multicultural projects for the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2021, he joined Southern Oregon University’s Democracy Project 2021 to speak about his experiences as a child in an internment camp.
Bibliography
Baker, Houston A., Jr., editor. Three American Literatures. New York: Modern Language Assn. of America, 1982.
The Jefferson Exchange Team. "Lawson Inada Talks Internment For 'The Democracy Project.'" Jefferson Public Radio, 17 Feb. 2021, www.ijpr.org/show/the-jefferson-exchange/2021-02-17/thu-8-30-lawson-inada-talks-internment-for-the-democracy-project. Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.
Kim, Elaine H. Asian American Literature: An Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1982.
"Lawson Fusao Inada." Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lawson-inada. Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.
Matsumoto, Nancy. "Lawson Fusao Inada." Densho Encyclopedia, 14 May 2024, encyclopedia.densho.org/Lawson‗Fusao‗Inada. Accessed 12 Oct 2024.
Reed, Ishmael. Shrovetide in Old New Orleans. New York: Avon, 1978.
Wixon, Vincent. "Lawson Fusao Inada (1938-)." The Oregon Encyclopedia, 18 May 2023, www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/inada‗lawson‗fusao‗1938‗. Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.