Sue Kunitomi Embrey
Sue Kunitomi Embrey | |
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Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | January 6, 1923
Died | May 15, 2006 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 83)
Education |
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Occupation(s) | Teacher and activist |
Known for | Co-chaired the Manzanar Committee |
Sue Kunitomi Embrey (January 6, 1923–May 15, 2006) was an American teacher, activist and long-time chair of the
Early life and education
Born Sueko Kunitomi, the sixth of her Japanese immigrant parents' eight children, Embrey was delivered by a mid-wife at the Kunitomi family's home in the
After President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the eviction of Japanese Americans from the West Coast with Executive Order 9066, Embrey's mother was forced to sell the family store at a loss, and one of her brothers moved to Manzanar early, responding to government calls for volunteers to help construct the camp.[2] Embrey, then nineteen, arrived in Manzanar in early 1942 with her mother and six remaining siblings.[3] She worked first at the camp's camouflage net factory, then took a job as a reporter with the Manzanar Free Press and ultimately became the newspaper's managing editor.
Career
In 1943, she was given clearance to leave camp and moved by herself to
Embrey returned to Los Angeles in 1948 to care for her mother, and briefly worked for the L.A. County Department of Education before transferring to the Health Department. She joined the Democratic Club and the Nisei Progressives, where she met Garland Embrey, whom she married in 1950. Her husband's political activities during the
Embrey died May 15, 2006, of kidney failure at a Los Angeles Hospital. She was 83.[3]
References
- ISBN 978-0-520-25635-4.
- ^ a b c d e f Nakagawa, Martha. "Sue Kunitomi Embrey". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Stewart, Jocelyn Y. (May 16, 2006). "Sue Kunitomi Embrey, 83; Former Internee Pushed for Historic Status of Manzanar". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
Further reading
- Bahr, Diana Myers (2007). The Unquiet Nisei: An Oral History Of The Life Of Sue Kunitomi Embrey. Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-230-60067-6.