Fumiko Hayashida née Nishinaka (January 21, 1911 – November 2, 2014) was an American activist, originally from

Bainbridge Island, Washington Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. ...

, who became one of 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 ...

s to be interned in March 1942. Hayashida was the subject of a ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

'' photograph which shows her, 31-years-old, holding her sleeping 10-month-old daughter, Natalie, while waiting to board a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

from Bainbridge Island to the mainland with other Japanese American internees. The photo became an iconic image of the plight of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans who were interned during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 ...

. However, the identity of the woman in the photograph remained unknown for decades. She was known only as "Mystery Girl" or "Mystery Lady" until the 1990s, when researchers at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

uncovered her identity and tracked her down. Hayashida was born on Bainbridge Island in 1911 to Tomakichi Nishinaka, a berry farmer, and Tomiye Fujita. Hayashida attended school in Japan for a short time, and graduated from Bainbridge Island High School. She married Saburo Hayashida in 1939 in

Kitsap County, Washington Kitsap County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 275,611. Its county seat is Port Orchard, and its largest city is Bremerton. The county was formed out of King County and Jefferson County on ...

; the couple had two children in Washington and one while imprisoned in

Manzanar Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...

, where the family was held for a year. After Manzanar, the family was moved to the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho to be closer to relatives and friends. Upon release, the Hayashidas returned to Washington, to live first on Bainbridge Island, then in Seattle. In 2006, Hayashida testified in favor of a proposed memorial for Japanese American internees on Bainbridge Island before a U.S. congressional committee. The

Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial ( ja, ベインブリッジ島日系アメリカ人排除記念碑, ''Beinburijjitō Nikkei Amerikajin Haijo Kinenhi'') is an outdoor exhibit commemorating the internment of Japanese Amer ...

was opened in 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayashida, Fumiko 1911 births 2014 deaths Japanese-American internees American activists American centenarians American people of Japanese descent People from Bainbridge Island, Washington Activists from Seattle Japanese centenarians Women centenarians