Edison Uno
Edison Uno, born in California in 1929, is a notable figure in the history of Japanese American civil rights activism. His early life was marked by the trauma of internment during World War II, as his family faced forced relocation to various camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, Uno became actively involved in community leadership and advocacy, notably becoming the youngest president of the East Los Angeles chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) at just eighteen. He pursued higher education, earning a degree in political science and later working in various roles at the University of California, San Francisco, where he also lectured on Asian American studies.
Uno's activism extended beyond academia; he played a significant role in lobbying for the repeal of unjust legislation that allowed for indefinite detention without trial. His efforts contributed to the recognition of the injustices faced by Japanese Americans, including a pilgrimage to the Manzanar internment camp to restore its memorials. His advocacy work culminated in the 1988 Civil Liberties Act, which provided reparations to former internees. Throughout his life, Uno received several accolades for his contributions to civil rights, and his legacy continues to be honored through educational institutions and awards named in his memory.
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Subject Terms
Edison Uno
Activist, social reformer, and educator
- Pronunciation: TOH-mee-MAH-roh EW-noh
- Born: October 19, 1929
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
- Died: December 24, 1976
- Place of death: California
After spending several years in internment camps as a teen, Uno worked to obtain legal redress for the many Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II. He encouraged people to speak about their wartime experiences and the hardships endured as a consequence of racism.
Areas of achievement: Activism, social issues, education
Early Life
Edison Tomimaro Uno was born in California in 1929, one of ten children. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Uno’s father, George, was taken into FBI custody and relocated to several different internment camps. The rest of the family was sent to the temporary assembly center in Santa Anita, California, and then on to Colorado’s Amache War Relocation Center. Uno and his family finally reunited with George in an internment camp in Crystal City, Texas. Uno’s mother and siblings were later released, but he remained in the camp with his father, becoming one of the last internees to leave.
In 1946, Uno returned to Los Angeles, where he became president of his senior class at John Marshall High School. He also became the youngest president of the East Los Angeles chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), elected at the age of eighteen. Uno went on to earn a degree in political science from Los Angeles State College, later known as California State University at Los Angeles. He married Rosalind Kido, with whom he later had two daughters.
Life’s Work
Uno managed an import-export company for a time before accepting the first of several positions at the University of California, San Francisco. He worked as an operations manager and a financial aid officer and, in 1969, assumed the role of assistant dean of students, a position he held until 1974. In addition, he lectured on Asian American studies and Japanese American history at several colleges and universities.
Uno served in the JACL for much of his life and devoted himself to lobbying for the repeal of the Emergency Detention Act, Title II of the Internal Security Act of 1950, which allowed “subversive” people to be held without trial during a national security emergency. The legislation was repealed in 1971. During the late 1960s, Uno supported students who went on strike for freedom of speech and the rights of minority students at San Francisco State College. In 1969, he joined other activists in a pilgrimage to Manzanar, one of the internment camps, to restore what remained and bear witness to the injustice. He later served on the Manzanar Committee, which convinced the California government to name the Manzanar camp a historical landmark in 1972. Uno and others also succeeded in altering the landmark plaque’s wording to include the term concentration camp, rather than a more innocuous phrase such as relocation center.
During the 1970s, Uno was part of a group that called for redress for the thousands of former internees who had been unjustly deprived of property and civil rights during World War II. He also aided in obtaining a presidential pardon for Iva Toguri D’Aquino, better known as Tokyo Rose, a woman wrongly convicted of spreading pro-Japanese propaganda during the war. Uno coauthored a children’s book, Japanese Americans: The Untold Story, published in 1970. He served as an advisor for several television productions, including a documentary produced by NBC, Guilty by Reason of Race (1972).
Significance
Uno received a number of awards in recognition of his work, including the San Francisco Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award. Both an institute at San Francisco State University and a civil-rights award issued by the JACL were named in his honor. Largely due to the efforts of activists such as Uno, in 1988 President Ronald Reagan approved the Civil Liberties Act, which granted monetary reparations to former internees and issued an official apology for the internment of Japanese Americans.
Bibliography
Hongo, Florence M., ed. Japanese American Journey: The Story of a People. San Mateo: Japanese Amer. Curriculum Project, 1985. Print. Provides a biographical sketch, including photographs, that highlights Uno’s humor and passion for justice.
Hosokawa, Bill. JACL in Quest of Justice. New York: Morrow, 1982. Print. Discusses the JACL’s efforts to obtain compensation for those relocated to internment camps.
Murray, Alice Yang. “Edison Uno: The Experience and Legacy of the Japanese American Internment.” The Human Tradition in California. Ed. Clark Davis and David Igler. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 2002. 161–76. Print. Explores the political reasons for the internment of Japanese Americans and places Uno’s efforts in context.
---. Historical Memories of the Japanese American Internment and the Struggle for Redress. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford UP, 2007. Print. Covers Uno’s involvement in the movement for redress as well as his experience of detention.