William Hohri facts for kids

William Minoru Hohri (born March 13, 1927 – died November 12, 2010) was an American who worked hard to make things fair for people. He was the main person who started a big lawsuit asking for money to help Japanese Americans. These families had been forced to live in special camps during World War II. William Hohri and his family were sent to a camp called Manzanar after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This attack caused the United States to join the war. Even though his lawsuit didn't win in court, William Hohri's efforts helped convince the government to pass a law. This law gave money and an apology to everyone who had been held in these camps. President Ronald Reagan signed this law in 1988.

Early Life and Internment

A Difficult Start

William Hohri was born in San Francisco on March 13, 1927. He was the youngest of six children. His parents, Daisuke and Asa Hohri, were missionaries who had moved to the United States in 1922. When William was three years old, both of his parents became very sick with a serious lung illness called tuberculosis. He went to live at a children's home called Shonien orphanage for three years while his parents got better. When he returned home, William only spoke English, which his parents did not understand.

Life in the Camp

On December 7, 1941, when William was a student at North Hollywood High School, Pearl Harbor was attacked. Hours later, the FBI arrested his father and sent him to a special government camp in Fort Missoula, Montana. In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a special order called Executive Order 9066. Because of this order, William and his family were forced to move to Manzanar. This was an internment camp in a faraway part of California. More than 112,000 other Japanese Americans were also sent to ten such camps. This happened because of strong negative feelings against Japanese people after the attack on the U.S. Later, William's father was allowed to leave the government camp and join his family at Manzanar.

William finished high school while living in the camp. In 1944, he was allowed to leave to go to college. He earned his degree from the University of Chicago. In March 1945, he went back to Manzanar to visit his parents. Even though a presidential order had said Japanese Americans could return to the West Coast, William was put in jail. He was jailed for traveling in California without a special permit. He was then told to leave the state at gunpoint. In 1951, William married Yuriko Katayama. They settled in Chicago, where William worked with computers.

Fighting for Justice

Standing Up for Rights

William Hohri started working for civil rights and protesting wars in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1977, he helped clear the name of Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a woman who was wrongly accused. William believed that the government's actions against Japanese Americans were part of a bigger pattern of unfair treatment that already existed before the war. He became very active in trying to get money and an official apology for those who had been held in the camps.

As the leader of the National Council for Japanese American Redress, William Hohri was the main person in a big lawsuit. This lawsuit asked for a lot of money (27 billion dollars) for all the people who had been held in the internment camps. However, the case did not win in court.

A Big Win for Many

Even though his lawsuit didn't succeed, William Hohri's hard work made a big difference. The United States Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This law offered an apology from the government. It also gave $20,000 to each person who had been held in the camps and was still alive. William Hohri used his check to buy a car made in Japan. In 1989, he received an American Book Awards for his book called Repairing America: An Account of the Movement for Japanese American Redress. This book told the story of the movement to make things right for Japanese Americans.

Later Years

William Hohri lived in Los Angeles. He passed away on November 12, 2010, at the age of 83. He died at his home in Pacific Palisades due to a sickness that affected his memory.