Google doodle honors Japanese American author

After World War II, Japanese American author Hisaye Yamamoto spent a lifetime fighting racism and was one of the first Asian Americans to act as a bridge between the Asian American and Black communities.

In honor of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Google made the short story author the subject of today's Doodle.

Throughout an acclaimed career, Yamamoto constructed candid and incisive stories that aimed to bridge the cultural divide between first and second-generation Japanese Americans by detailing their experiences in the wake of World War II.

Born on August 23, 1921, in Redondo Beach, California, Hisaye Yamamoto was the daughter of Japanese immigrant strawberry farmers.. In her teens, Yamamoto wrote articles for a daily newspaper for Japanese Californians under the pen name Napoleon. 

Because of race-focused laws, her family was forced to move frequently. But as a teenager she found comfort in writing, contributing short stories and letters under the pseudonym Napoleon to newspapers that served the Japanese American community.

Following the outbreak of World War II and due to Executive Order 9066, Yamamoto’s family was among the over 120,000 Japanese Americans forced by the U.S. to relocate to government prison camps (aka Japanese internment camps), where they faced violence and harsh conditions. Despite the injustices encountered daily, she kept her literary aspirations alive as a reporter and columnist for the camp newspaper. 

As the war wound down, Yamamoto was released from the internment camp and returned to the Los Angeles area in 1945. She soon found work as a columnist with the Los Angeles Tribune, a weekly Black-owned and founded newspaper that sought to diversify the voices in journalism and unify the Black community with Asian Americans.

HISAYE YAMAMOTO

Over the next three years gathering news for the publication, Yamamoto witnessed firsthand the widespread racism that many underrepresented groups faced. These experiences profoundly changed Yamamoto, who became a literary champion of not just the Asian American community, but for others who also endured discrimination. 

Yamamoto wrote about the complexities of racial interaction in the US.

One of her stories was about the intimidation a Black family experienced racism from white neighbors in segregated Fontana, California After the family perished in an apparent arson attack, she scolded herself for using terms such as "alleged" or "claims" to describe the threats against the family.

In 1948, Yamamoto published her first short story, “The High Heeled Shoes,” which inspired Yamamoto to leave journalism and pursue writing full-time, often exploring topics related to the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity in her works.

In 1986, Yamamoto’s storytelling won the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement for her contributions to American multicultural literature. 

The adversity she overcame at the prison camp formed the basis for much of Yamamoto’s work, such as her 1950 short story “The Legend of Miss Sasagawara.” She also remained a life-long advocate in the fight against war, racism, and violence.

The Doddle's artist, Alyssa Winans, explains the inspiration behind her work:

"Reading Yamamoto’s work and working on this Doodle amidst all the recent news about rising violence hit especially hard. It’s difficult to see elements of history repeating itself, and my heart goes out to all the individuals and families that have been affected. As someone of mixed background, I have a complex relationship with different aspects of my culture, so I feel honored to be able to work on a Doodle for APAHM. I am always glad to see a space where Asian American and Pacific Islander voices, causes, and culture is elevated and celebrated."