Chiyoko Sakamoto (1912–1994) was California's first
Japanese American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
female lawyer.
Sakamoto was born on June 30, 1912 in
Los Angeles, California to Hisamatsu and Kume Sakamoto. In 1938, she was admitted to practice law shortly after graduating from the
American University Washington College of Law in
Los Angeles, California.
Sakamoto worked as a secretary during the four years of her legal studies. She became a legal assistant for a Japanese-American community leader after searching in vain for a law firm position.
During
World War II, following the signing of
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...
, Sakamoto was imprisoned in the
Granada Internment Camp.
Upon being released in 1947, she struggled yet again with finding employment. Through her struggles, she met Harvard-educated African-American attorney Hugh E. Macbeth, Sr., who was a staunch defender of Japanese-Americans. He hired Sakamoto as an associate at his Los Angeles-based law firm. Sakamoto's coworkers included Eva M. Mack, a lawyer who worked with Macbeth, Sr. on the California Supreme Court case ''Davis vs. Carter'' that pertained to a housing discrimination suit filed by jazz musician
Benny Carter. At the time, Sakamoto was unique in working for a non-Nisei law firm.
She eventually opened her own law firm in
Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and was one of the founders of the Japanese-American Bar Association and the California Women's Bar.
Sakamoto's husband, Tohru Takahashi, was a farmer in
New Mexico, and they owned various farms in California (she even managed some of them while simultaneously taking on cases).
Sakamoto died in 1994.
See also
*
List of first women lawyers and judges in California
This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in California. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in thei ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakamoto, Chiyoko
1912 births
1994 deaths
Japanese-American internees
California lawyers
American jurists of Japanese descent
Washington College of Law alumni
20th-century American women lawyers
20th-century American lawyers