Life

Yoshiko Uchida was the daughter of Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 immigrants Takashi and Iku Uchida. Her father came to the United States from Japan in 1903 and worked for the San Francisco offices of Mitsui and Company

Mitsui

is one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.-History:Founded by Mitsui Takatoshi , who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in Matsusaka, in what is now today's Mie prefecture...

. Yoshiko and her sister Keiko

Keiko

-Possible meanings:As with many Japanese names, Keiko can be written using a number of different kanji. Some of the most common ways of writing Keiko are:* 恵子 — "lucky/blessed child"...

 were both nisei

Nisei

During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...

, or second-generation Japanese Americans, born in the United States.

Yoshiko Uchida graduated early from high school and enrolled at University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 at sixteen. The Uchidas were living in Berkeley, California

Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

 and Yoshiko was in her senior year at U.C. Berkeley when the Japanese attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 in 1941. Soon after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

 ordered all Japanese Americans on the west coast to be rounded up and imprisoned in internment camps. Thousands of Japanese and Japanese Americans, regardless of their U.S. citizenship, lost their homes, property, jobs, civil liberties

Civil liberties

Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...

 and human dignity.

The Uchidas were not spared. Takashi was questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 and he and his family, including Yoshiko, were interned for three years, first at Tanforan Racetrack in California and then in Topaz, Utah. In the camps, Yoshiko taught school and had the chance to view not only the injustices which the Americans were perpetrating, but the varying reactions of Japanese Americans towards their ill-treatment.

In 1943 Uchida was accepted to graduate school at Smith College

Smith College

Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...

 in Massachusetts and allowed to leave the camp, but her years there left a deep impression. Her 1971 novel Journey to Topaz is fiction but closely follows her own experiences, and many of her other books deal with issues of ethnicity, citizenship

Citizenship

Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...

, identity, and cross-cultural relationships.

Over the course of her career Uchida published more than thirty books, including nonfiction for adults and fiction

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 for children and teenagers. She died in 1992.

Uchida became widely known for her 1982 autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

 Desert Exile, one of several important autobiographical works by Japanese Americans who were interned that portray internment as a pivotal moment in the formation of the author's personal

Identity (social science)

Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...

 and cultural

Cultural identity

Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....

 identities.

She is also known for her children's novels, having been praised as "almost single-handedly creating a body of Japanese American literature for children, where none existed before.". In addition to Journey to Topaz, many of her other novels including Picture Bride, A Jar of Dreams and The Bracelet deal with Japanese American impressions of major historical events including World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, and World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and the racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 endured by Japanese Americans during these years.

"I try to stress the positive aspects of life that I want children to value and cherish. I hope they can be caring human beings who don't think in terms of labels--foreigners or Asians or whatever--but think of people as human beings. If that comes across, then I've accomplished my purpose."

Awards

• Jordan LH New Brockton honary award
• Ford Foundation
  Ford Foundation
  The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
  
   research fellowship in Japan, 1952
• Children's Spring Book Festival honor award, New York Herald Tribune
  New York Herald Tribune
  The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
  
  , 1955, for The Magic Listening Cap
• American Library Association Notable Book citation, 1972, for Journey to Topaz
• Medal for best juvenile book by a California author, Commonwealth Club of California, 1972, for Samurai of Gold Hill;
• Award of Merit, California Association of Teachers of English, 1973
• Citation, Contra Costa chapter of Japanese American Citizens League, 1976, for outstanding contribution to the cultural development of society
• Morris S. Rosenblatt Award, Utah State Historical Society
  Utah State Historical Society
  The Utah State Historical Society, founded in 1897 and now part of the Government of Utah, United States, encourages the research, study, and publication of Utah history....
  
  , 1981, for article, "Topaz, City of Dust"
• Distinguished Service Award, University of Oregon
  University of Oregon
  -Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
  
  , 1981
• Commonwealth Club of California
  Commonwealth Club of California
  The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States...
  
   medal, 1982, for A Jar of Dreams
• Award from Berkeley Chapter of Japanese American Citizens League, 1983
• School Library Journal, Best Book of the Year citation, 1983, for The Best Bad Thing
• New York Public Library
  New York Public Library
  The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
  
  , Best Book of the Year citation, 1983, for The Best Bad Thing
• Best Book of 1985 citation, Bay Area Book Reviewers, 1985, for The Happiest Ending
• Child Study Association of America, Children's Book of the Year citation, 1985, for The Happiest Ending
• San Mateo and San Francisco Reading Associations, Young Authors' Hall of Fame award, 1985, for The Happiest Ending
• Friends of Children and Literature award, 1987, for A Jar of Dreams
• Japanese American of the Biennium award, Japanese American Citizens League
  Japanese American Citizens League
  The was formed in 1929 to protect the rights of Japanese Americans from the state and federal governments. It fought for civil rights for Japanese Americans, assisted those in internment camps during World War II, and led a successful campaign for redress for internment from the U.S...
  
  , 1988, for outstanding achievement

External links

• Yoshiko Uchida papers and photographs (some materials available online) at The Bancroft Library
• Guide to the Yoshiko Uchida papers at the University of Oregon