Mitsuye Yamada facts for kids

Mitsuye Yamada (born July 5, 1923) is a Japanese American poet, writer, and someone who worked for human rights and equal rights for women. She is known as one of the first Asian American women writers to speak out about Japanese Americans being held in camps during World War II.

Early Life and Family

Mitsuye Yamada was born as Mitsuye Mei Yasutake in Fukuoka, Japan, on July 5, 1923. Her parents, Jack Kaichiro Yasutake and Hide Shiraki Yasutake, were Japanese Americans who had moved to the United States from Japan. They lived in Seattle, Washington.

When Mitsuye was born, her mother was visiting family in Japan. Her mother had to return to Seattle to care for one of Mitsuye's brothers. So, Mitsuye stayed with a family in Fukuoka until she was about three and a half years old. Then, a friend of her father's brought her back to Seattle.

At age nine, Mitsuye went back to Japan to live with her grandparents for a year and a half. After that, she spent the rest of her childhood in Seattle with her parents and three brothers. Her family lived in Beacon Hill, a neighborhood where many Asian families lived. She finished high school at Cleveland High School, getting her diploma while she was held at the Puyallup Assembly Center.

Life During World War II

Mitsuye's father, Jack Yasutake, worked as a translator for the U.S. government agency that handled immigration. He also started a local poetry club where people would read their poems at the family's home.

When World War II started, he was seen as an "enemy alien" and was arrested because people thought he might be a spy. Like many other Japanese Americans, Jack was arrested without any proof that he had done anything wrong. He was later found innocent after the war.

In 1942, after a special order called Executive Order 9066 was signed, Mitsuye and her family were forced to leave their home. They were first held at the Puyallup Assembly Center and then at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. These were like temporary camps where Japanese Americans were kept during the war.

Life After the Camps

Mitsuye and her brother Mike were allowed to leave the camp because they said they were loyal to the United States, not to the Emperor of Japan. They both went to the University of Cincinnati. Mike had to leave the university because the U.S. Air Force was doing secret war research there, but Mitsuye was able to keep studying.

In Japanese society at the time Mitsuye was growing up, women often didn't have much freedom. They couldn't easily go to college or choose their own husband. Mitsuye's own experiences during World War II and watching her mother's life helped her develop strong feelings against racism and for women's rights, which she wrote about in her works.

Mitsuye married Yoshikazu Yamada in 1950. They had four children, and later, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Mitsuye became a U.S. citizen in 1955. She considers herself a Nisei, which means she is a second-generation Japanese American. She turned 100 years old on July 5, 2023.

Education and Career

Mitsuye Yamada started her college studies at the University of Cincinnati. In 1945, she moved to New York University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English and Art in 1947. She then earned a master's degree in English Literature and Research from the University of Chicago in 1953.

She began teaching English at Cypress College in 1968 and retired in 1989 as a professor.

Writing and Activism

Yamada's first book was Camp Notes and Other Poems. This book tells a story in order, starting with her family being forced to leave Seattle, moving through their time in the camp, and ending with poems about moving to Cincinnati. The book shows the unfair treatment and hidden hurt that Japanese Americans faced during World War II. Mitsuye wrote this book to help people understand the discrimination against Japanese Americans and to encourage deeper talks about these problems.

With this book, Yamada also challenged old Japanese traditions that expected women to be silent. She believed that Asian American women needed to be fully seen and heard, especially because they faced challenges related to their race, gender, and national identity. Yamada said that Asian Pacific women should "affirm our culture while working within to change it."

In 1981, Yamada wrote two essays for a book called This Bridge Called My Back: Radical Writings from Women of Color. One essay, "Invisibility is an Unnatural Disaster," talks about how Asian American women can feel invisible because they are both Asian and women. The other essay, "Asian Pacific American Women and Feminism," encouraged women of color to create their own plans for women's rights that focused on their specific concerns.

That same year, Yamada and Nellie Wong were featured in a TV documentary called "Mitsuye and Nellie: Two Asian-American Woman Poets." The film used poetry to share the real-life stories of these women and their families, showing the history of Asian Americans living with two cultures.

In 1989, Yamada published Desert Run: Poems and Stories. This book also explores her experiences in the internment camp. In it, she looks at her background and realizes that her identity is a mix of Japanese and American cultures. Some poems in the book, like "The Club," also talk about issues of violence against women. The book shares the history and changes of Japanese Americans in the U.S., including Yamada's views on gender inequality.

In 2019, when she was 96 years old, Yamada released her work, Full Circle: New and Selected Poems.

Works by Mitsuye Yamada

• 1976 – Camp Notes and Other Poems
• 1976 – Lighthouse
• 1981 – Mitsuye and Nellie: Two Asian-American Woman Poets
• 1989 – Desert Run: Poems and stories
• 1992 – Camp notes and other poems [2nd edition]
• 2003 – Three Asian American Writers Speak Out on Feminism
• 2019 — Full Circle: New and Selected Poems

Awards and Recognition

Mitsuye Yamada has received many awards for her writing and her work for human rights:

• 1980 - Received the Orange County Arts Alliance Literary Arts Award.
• 1982 - Received the Vesta Award for Writing from the Woman's Building of Los Angeles.
• 1984 - Received a Writer's Fellowship from Yaddo Artist Colony.
• 1984 - Received an Award for Contribution to the Status of Women from Women For: Orange County.
• 1985 - Received the Women's Network Alert Literature Award.
• 1987 - Received the Distinguished Teacher Award from North Orange County Community College District.
• 1987 - Received an award for contributions to ethnic studies from MELUS.
• 1990-1991 - Received the Woman of Achievement Award from the Santiago Ranch Foundation.
• 1992 - Received the Jesse Bernard Wise Women Award from the Center for Women's Policy Studies.
• 1995 - Received the "Write On, Women!" award from the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research.
• 1997 - Received the Give Women Voice Award during International Women's Day, U.S.A.
• 2007 - Named KCET Local Hero of the Year for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
• 2009 - Received an Honorary Doctorate from Simmons College Boston.

Boards and Service

Yamada served on the national board of Amnesty International for two terms. Amnesty International is an organization that works to protect human rights around the world.