Kuma Elizabeth Ohi (later K. Elizabeth Owen 1911-1976) was the 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 in the United States and Illinois. She was born on February 9, 1911, to a Eurasian household in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Sidney T. Ohi, worked as a designer for the

Pullman Company The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

. Ohi attended the University of Chicago and earned her Bachelor of Laws and

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the John Marshall Law School. In 1937, Ohi became the first Japanese-American female admitted to practice law in the United States. Despite her mixed racial ancestry, Ohi was detained following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She was released due to the assistance of the attorney for whom she was working for as a clerk, Arthur Goldberg, who would go onto to become an associate justice of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. After a stint as an ensign in the United States Navy, Ohi relocated to

Washington D.C ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, and became an attorney at the Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Department of Labor. It was also in Washington D.C. that Ohi changed her last name to "Owen" in an effort to conceal her Japanese background and to pass as a non-Asian. She died on August 14, 1976, in Washington D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohi, Elizabeth Kamatsu American jurists of Japanese descent Illinois lawyers 1911 births 1976 deaths 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers University of Illinois Chicago School of Law alumni

See also

References