Edison Uno

Edison Uno (1929–1976) was a Japanese American civil rights advocate, best known for opposing laws used to implement the mass detention of Japanese Americans during World War II and for his role in the early stages of the movement for redress after the war. To many Japanese American activists, Uno was the father of the redress movement.

Uno was born in 1929 in Los Angeles, California. He was the son of George and Riki Uno[1]. In 1942, Uno was interned with his parents and siblings at the Granada War Relocation Center in Colorado. Not long after, he was transferred to the Crystal City Internment Camp in Texas, where he remained for the duration of World War II.[2]

Following the war, Uno graduated from Los Angeles State College with a degree in political science. Later, he married Rosalind Kido, daughter of wartime national JACL president Saburo Kido.[1] He later became involved in academia, teaching at the University of California, San Francisco, and various civil rights issues. Uno was active in grand jury reform, as well as in such civil rights issues as the Wendy Yoshimura Defense Fund, Title II Repeal, Redress for Evacuation, and the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), and worked on Farewell to Manzanar television program.[2] Uno died of a heart attack in 1976.[3]

UCSF, where Uno helped create one of the country's first Ethnic Studies programs, established the Edison T. Uno Public Service Award in recognition of his impact on the school and the larger community.[4]

Early Life

Edison Uno was born in Los Angeles in 1929 into a family of 11. As a young man, he was forced to leave their homes during the World War II and was relocated to the Granada War Relocation Center in Colorado. Then, he was subsequently transferred to the Crystal City internment camp. He stayed at the internment camp even after the war was over, and he was told that he was the last American citizen to be released, after 1,647 days in prison[5]. After Edison returned to Los Angeles, he became the youngest chapter president of JACL in 1950[6].

References
  1. Ng, Franklin (1995). The Asian American Encyclopedia. North Bellmore, New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. p. 1599. ISBN 1854356852.
  2. "Online Archive of California: Finding Aid for the Edison Uno Papers, 1964-1976". Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  3. "Social Networks and Archival Context".
  4. Description of Thomas N. Burbridge and Edison T. Uno Awards, UCSF
  5. Yuji Ichioka, "Beyond National Boundaries: The Complexity of Japanese-American History," Amerasia Journal 23, no. 2 (Fall 1997): viii; Yuji Ichioka, "The Meaning of Loyalty: The Case of Kazumaro Buddy Uno," Amerasia Journal 23, no. 2 (Fall 1997): 45–71.
  6. "Resume of Edison Uno," dated May 20, 1969, University of California, Los Angeles, University Research Library, Department of Special Collections, Edison Uno Collection, Box 38, Folder 3

"Edison Uno," Alice Yang, Densho Encyclopedia (19 Mar 2013).

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