Mike Masaoka
Mike M. Masaoka was the first National Secretary and later Washington, D.C. representative of the JACL. He was honored at the 2015 JACL National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the video below.
Grant Ujifusa also made remarks at the convention. Read the transcript of Grant Ujifusa’s speech about Mike Masaoka online at the Pacific Citizen.
Masaoka was no stranger to conflict. While he is no longer alive to tell his story, he described in great depth the challenges he faced as leader of the JACL in the 1940s in a speech at the 1982 National JACL Convention in Los Angeles. Masaoka’s words are available online at Resisters.com.
If you want to learn more about Masaoka’s life in his own words you can read his autobiography, They Call Me Moses Masaoka. You can read more about the autobiography and responses to it on the Densho Encyclopedia Page Here.