|
A Japanese-American, Ueno was one of many who were rounded up and put in internment camps during World War II. As a loyal American, he thought the prison camps were unfair, and said so. "He challenged the internment when it happened, and there weren't too many of us who did that," says William Hohri, another internee and the leader of the National Council for Japanese American Redress. "He also had a family with kids, so he was really sticking his neck out during the war." Ueno also spoke out against the corruption of Manzanar camp guards, speaking out when he discovered they were selling sugar on the black market; it was meant for internees. He was arrested for his trouble and spent 3-1/2 years in various jails, part of that time in solitary confinement, even though he was never charged with a crime or given a hearing. After the war, Ueno was given $15 and a one-way train ticket to San Jose, Calif., where he worked raising strawberries and cherries until he retired in 1972. While he felt no amount of money would be enough to repay him for the indignities he suffered, he supported calls for redress to Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned. That finally happened in 1989, when Pres. George HW Bush signed legislation to pay each internee $20,000 for their loss of property and freedom -- which came with an apology. Ueno died December 14 in San Jose from pneumonia. He was 97.
From This is True for 12 December 2004
Suggestions for further reading:
Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and...
by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, James D. Houston
Amazon Price: $6.99
Customer Review: Farewell to Manzanar is a brilliantly written historical memoir recounting the memories of life in internment during World War II, seen though the eyes of a young girl: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. However, jumpy at times, Houston unravels the story to ...
Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Intern...
Amazon Price: $12.89
Customer Review: Anyone who doesn't think there could possibly be prison camps in the United States needs to have this book. This shows in great detail how the government covered up the Japanese prison camps during WWII. The photography by Dorothea Lange is as alwa...
Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internm...
by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald
Amazon Price: $10.20
Customer Review: My relationship with Looking Like the Enemy began five years ago, when Maureen Michelson at NewSage Press sent me the manuscript. "We're going to be publishing this book," she told me. "I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on it." This was hard...
Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience
Amazon Price: $14.93
Customer Review: For World War II history buffs, this book is an excellent view from the eyes of Japanese Americans. They were amazing people in how they dealt with the situation.
One section of the book gets a little bogged down covering the issue of "Questio...
Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself (Build It Yourself series)
by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt
Amazon Price: $10.17
Customer Review: This book is very good for brief interesting facts on WWII both on the home front and the basics of the war. It enlightens and expands the notion of what the war must have been like for many Americans. The projects are very clever and easy to make ...
Newsfeed display by CaRP |
About the HUs
About This is True
Subscribe Free
to This is True
Prev: JPLers Jane Galloway, Kerri Agey and Dorothy Forks
Next: The supportive Harold Benjamin
Complete Name List
|
