The early pioneers—all they did was help the community lots of times with little or no money. People like [Sei] Fujii fighting unconstitutional laws. There were people like Frank Kasama. There were some Japanese American lawyers who were stuck in Japan. Maybe they went to take some college courses or whatever but somehow they were stuck in Japan when the war broke out. What did they do? They sat there and tried to help all these people who were stuck in Japan. People like Frank Kasama and a number of others. I think Jim Uyeda, he’s an attorney, his father was an early attorney; they helped these folks. Pretty much when Japanese Americans became attorneys, there was no place for them in the public sector and they either worked for the community or some of it they did pro bono. It's amazing history. There are fine ways to capture some of that, whether it’s the [John] Aisos or the Fujiis and the other folks. There were many people who did so many important things for the welfare of the individuals and the community.
Date: July 17, 2013
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Sean Hamamoto
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association
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