Kiyoshi Kuromiya facts for kids

Kiyoshi Kuromiya (May 9, 1943 – May 10, 2000) was a Japanese-American writer and activist. He fought for civil rights, peace, and support for people with HIV/AIDS. Kiyoshi was born in Wyoming at a special camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. This camp was called Heart Mountain.

Later, Kuromiya worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr.. He also strongly spoke out against the Vietnam War in the 1960s. He helped start the Gay Liberation Front in Philadelphia. Kuromiya also created the Critical Path Project and its newsletter. He was the editor of ACT UP's Standard of Care. This was the first guide for medical care and understanding for people with HIV, written by people with HIV/AIDS.

Kiyoshi's Early Life and Family

Kiyoshi Kuromiya was born on May 9, 1943. This happened at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming. His family had been moved there from Monrovia, California. Kiyoshi grew up in Monrovia. Both of his parents were born in California.

In 1961, after living in Monrovia for 15 years, Kiyoshi decided to move. He left the West Coast to go to college in Philadelphia. He wanted to study at the University of Pennsylvania. Kuromiya said he moved to Philadelphia because it was called the "City of Brotherly Love." His work as an activist truly began in the 1960s. He started getting involved in organizing for civil rights.

Kiyoshi was a third-generation Japanese American. This means his grandparents came from Japan. He mostly went to schools with white students in the Los Angeles suburbs.

Becoming an Activist in College

Kiyoshi started college at the University of Pennsylvania in September 1961. He was one of six Benjamin Franklin National Scholars. This scholarship covered almost all his college costs. Kiyoshi chose to study architecture. He felt it was a field that included many human interests. He was inspired by Louis Kahn, a famous architect and professor at Penn.

Kuromiya became more involved in human rights activities in the early 1960s. He felt that the University of Pennsylvania was not very open about people's identities. This feeling encouraged his activism.

In 1962, during his first year at Penn, Kuromiya continued his activism. He took part in the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sit-ins at diners in Maryland. Kuromiya was near Martin Luther King Jr. when King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Later that night, he met King, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and James Baldwin. After meeting Dr. King in 1963, Kuromiya worked closely with him throughout the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1965, Kuromiya and other activists took over Independence Hall in Philadelphia. They called it the Freedom Hotel. They did this to support people hurt at Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. This happened during a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. A week later, on March 13, 1965, Kuromiya flew South. He was helping Black high school students register to vote in Montgomery, Alabama. Police assaulted him, Dr. King, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and James Forman.

The next day, Kuromiya was in the hospital. Police guarded him. He spoke to the county's main officer about the incident. He received an apology. Dr. King said this was the first time a Southern officer had apologized for hurting a civil rights worker. Kuromiya and King also got a signed statement from the Sheriff. It said the sheriff's volunteer group would be stopped. This group was like the Citizens' Councils or Ku Klux Klan. After King's death in 1968, Kuromiya was very close to the King family. He helped care for King's children in Atlanta during the funeral week.

Speaking Out Against War

In April 1968, Kuromiya started the biggest anti-war protest in Penn's history. Thousands of people came. Kiyoshi printed flyers from a made-up group called the Americong. The flyers said an innocent dog would be burned with napalm in front of the Van Pelt Library at Penn. This was to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam War.

On the day of the protest, Kuromiya gave out new flyers. They said, "Congratulations, you've saved the life of an innocent dog. How about the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese that have been burned alive?"

Besides tricking thousands of people to come to the Penn library, Kuromiya was very active in the anti-war movement. On October 20 and 21, 1967, Kuromiya joined a large protest. It was organized by Abbie Hoffman. They tried to "levitate the Pentagon" building. They joined hands around it as a performance art protest. When the levitation did not work, Kiyoshi and other protesters used police barriers. They made bonfires all around the Pentagon.

The next year, Kiyoshi made posters for mailing. He used the name Dirty Linen Corporation. The posters showed Bill Greenshields smiling while burning his draft card. Later that year, federal marshals and Secret Service arrested Kuromiya. This was for using the U.S. mail system for his "crime-inciting" poster. Even though it was dangerous, Kuromiya gave out 2,000 copies of the poster. This was at the Democratic convention at the Chicago Conrad Hilton Hotel. The hotel was surrounded by machine guns and jeeps with barbed wire. This was because of the Chicago police riot.

Fighting for Equal Rights

Kiyoshi was very active in the movement for equal rights for all people. He publicly shared his identity on July 4, 1965. This was at the first Annual Reminder protest at Independence Hall. Similar protests happened in Washington, D.C. and New York City. The Philadelphia protest had 12 activists. The Annual Reminder protest happened for five years until 1969. It was the first time people publicly gathered to ask for equal rights for homosexuals.

Kuromiya helped start the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in 1969. This was after the Stonewall riots. He met Basil O'Brien at a Homophile Action League meeting in Philadelphia. Kuromiya described the idea behind this movement as helping people understand their feelings. It helped individuals deal with feeling alone because of their identity. The GLF in Philadelphia had many African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians. In 1969, they were a small group of about a dozen.

However, the GLF was more radical than some other groups formed after Stonewall. Under Kuromiya's leadership, the GLF brought in many different people. They stood in solidarity with groups like the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords. Kuromiya even got support for the movement when he represented the GLF. He was an openly identified delegate at the 1970 Black Panther Party Convention at Temple University. In 1970, Kuromiya went to a national conference in Austin, Texas. This experience changed how he saw the fight for equal rights. In 1972, Kiyoshi created the first group for people with diverse identities on the University of Pennsylvania campus. It was called Gay Coffee Hour. It met every week on campus. It was open to non-students. It was a safe place for people of all ages to meet, instead of gay bars.

Helping People with AIDS

Kuromiya started working hard on the AIDS movement when the AIDS epidemic began in America in the early 1980s. Kiyoshi was most involved with ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). He founded the Philadelphia chapter of this group. After being diagnosed with AIDS himself in 1989, Kuromiya worked even harder.

Kiyoshi approached his work with the idea that "Information is power." He learned a lot about AIDS issues. He was even invited to join panels about new treatments at the National Institutes of Health. He created the ACT UP Standards of Care. This was the first guide of its kind for people with HIV, written by people with AIDS.

Kuromiya also started the Critical Path newsletter. He mailed it to thousands of people worldwide. He also sent it to hundreds of incarcerated individuals who could not get AIDS information. He later turned the Critical Path newsletter into one of the very first websites on the Internet. It was full of the latest HIV/AIDS information. From there, the site became home to the Critical Path AIDS Project. Through this project, Kuromiya ran a 24-hour hotline. Anyone who needed help could call it. He also gave free internet access to hundreds of people with HIV in Philadelphia.

Fighting for Rights in Court

In the late 1990s, Kuromiya was part of several successful court cases. Kiyoshi went to the Supreme Court in 1997. He wanted to expand freedom of speech rights. This included protecting the sharing of information about AIDS on the Internet. This led to the court removing part of the Communications Decency Act.

Personal Life and Passing

In 1983, Kuromiya visited his mother at the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp. This was where he was born. He said this was a very important experience for him as an activist. He survived a fight with lung cancer in the mid-1970s. Soon after, he became close friends with the inventor Buckminster Fuller. He traveled with Fuller for about five years. Kuromiya worked on Fuller's last six books. He published Fuller's last book after Fuller's death in 1992.

Most importantly, Kuromiya helped the scientist with Critical Path. This was an important book from 1981 about how technology could make the world better. Kuromiya was also a nationally ranked Scrabble player.

Kuromiya passed away from complications related to cancer on May 10, 2000. This was one day after his 57th birthday. However, his death was first reported as being due to complications from AIDS.

Legacy and Impact

On June 4, 2022, Kiyoshi Kuromiya was honored with a Google Doodle. This is a special drawing on the Google search page.

Important Moments in Kiyoshi's Life

• 1962: Participated in CORE restaurant sit-ins in Maryland.
• 1963: Attended Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.
• 1965: Injured by police while helping students register to vote in Montgomery, Alabama.
• 1965: Took part in the first public demonstration for homosexual rights at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
• 1967: Joined the "Armies of Night" march on the Pentagon.
• 1968: Helped care for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s children after his funeral in Atlanta.
• 1968: Was at the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago.
• 1969: Spoke at the Black Panther Party's Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention.
• 1970: Attended the "Rebirth of Dionysian Spirit" national conference in Austin, Texas.
• 1972: Attended the first Rainbow Gathering in Colorado.
• 1974–1977: Survived metastatic lung cancer.
• 1978–1983: Traveled with Buckminster Fuller and worked on his books.
• 1988: Became the first employee of We the People with AIDS and a founding member of ACT-UP Philadelphia.
• 1992: ACT-UP members were injured at a protest at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel.
• 1996: Served on an FDA panel that recommended approval for new HIV medications.
• 1997: The Critical Path AIDS Project, with Kuromiya as a lead person, helped the Supreme Court overturn part of the Communications Decency Act on internet censorship.

See also

In Spanish: Kiyoshi Kuromiya para niños

• List of civil rights activists
• List of peace activists

Images for kids

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  Site of the internment camp that Kuromiya's family was relocated to and where he was born