Grayce Ritsu (Kaneda) Uyehara (1919 - 2014)

Born 4 Jul 1919 in Stockton, San Diego, San Diego, California, United States

Died 22 Jun 2014 at age 94 in Mount Holly, Burlington, New Jersey, United States

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Biography

Grayce (Kaneda) Uyehara is Notable.

Grayce Ritsu Kaneda, born on July 4, 1919, in Stockton, California, was a Japanese-American social worker and activist. She is best known for leading the campaign for a formal government apology for Japanese-American internment during World War II.

During World War II, Grayce and her family were among the more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in internment camps. She was a student at the University of the Pacific, majoring in music, when she and her family were imprisoned in the Rohwer internment camp in Arkansas. After the war, Grayce became a social worker and worked with other Japanese-Americans who had been interned. She quickly became involved in civil rights activism and became a key figure in the campaign for redress and reparations for Japanese-Americans who had been interned.

In the 1970s, Grayce co-founded the National Council for Japanese American Redress (NCJAR), an organization that advocated for an official apology and reparations for Japanese-American internees. Grayce worked tirelessly for many years to raise awareness about the issue and convince the government to take action.

Her efforts finally paid off in 1988, when President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized for Japanese-American internment and provided reparations to surviving internees. Grayce was a key figure in this historic achievement and is widely regarded as a hero in the Japanese-American community.

Grayce Uyehara Kaneda passed away on June 22, 2014 in Mount Holly, New Jersey, but her legacy lives on. Her tireless advocacy for justice and her commitment to civil rights continue to inspire people today.

Sources

• *Wikipedia contributors. "Grayce Uyehara." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 14 Feb 2023.