Frank Hirao Ogawa (May 17, 1917 – July 13, 1994) was a
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
leader
and the first
Japanese American to serve on the
Oakland City Council
The Oakland City Council is an elected governing body representing the City of Oakland, California.
Since 1998, Oakland has had a mayor-council government. The mayor is elected for a four-year term. The Oakland City Council has eight council membe ...
, of which he was a member from 1966 until his death in 1994.
Early life
A
Nisei
is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...
, Ogawa was born in
Lodi, California
Lodi ( ) is a city located in San Joaquin County, California, in the center portion of California's Central Valley. The population was 62,134 at the 2010 census. The estimated population is approximately 67,586 according to 2019 census data. L ...
and never lived in Japan. Nevertheless, as Japanese Americans, Ogawa and his family members were
involuntarily relocated by the U.S. government to the
Topaz War Relocation Center
The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an American concentration camp which housed Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come t ...
in Millard County, Utah following the signing of
Executive Order 9066; they were
detained there for the duration of
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 opposing ...
.
Ogawa married Grace Ogawa (née Hiruma) prior to their wartime detention and they had two children, Alan and Nancy. Nancy was born in the Topaz War Relocation Center but died at age 2.
After the war, Ogawa returned to Oakland where he found work as a gardener. Eventually, he borrowed and saved enough money to open his own
nursery.
[
]
Career
Ogawa was a member of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) from 1972 to 1988, having been appointed to the commission by the Association of Bay Area Governments
The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is a regional planning agency incorporating various local governments in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. It encompasses nine counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay. Those counties are ...
.
Ogawa served on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) is a public agency that regulates the stationary sources of air pollution in the nine counties of California's San Francisco Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Sa ...
Board of Directors from 1979 until 1992 when he had to retire from the Board because of health issues. He served as chairman of the board during most of 1987 and served as chair and Vice-Chair of the Board's Executive Committee and Personnel Committee.
Ogawa was a Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
. However, he never held nor was he ever a candidate for any partisan office.
As a public official, Ogawa was known as kind, optimistic, and adept at building consensus.
In about December 1988, Ogawa underwent successful heart surgery
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...
.
Death
Ogawa died in Oakland on July 13, 1994, of lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
. He was survived by his wife Grace and son Alan, and by two grandchildren, Courtney and Matthew.[
More than 600 people, including a representative of Oakland's sister city of Fukuoka, Japan, attended Ogawa's memorial service.][
When Ogawa died, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, in her ''Tribute to Frank H. Ogawa'', said:
]
"Frank Ogawa was a remarkable person because he could take personal misfortune and turn it into a positive learning experience for himself and others. When Frank and Grace Ogawa were forced to sell their belongings and live in internment camps during World War II, they had to sleep on straw mattresses in horse stalls for six months before being
shipped to a camp in Utah to spend another 3 1/2 years in confinement. Despite this mistreatment and injustice, he never lost faith in the United States. Just the opposite--he strived to prove his loyalty to his country and became an internationally recognized champion of Asian-Americans in the process."[
]
She went on to say
"Having served five years on the Oakland Parks Commission, Frank Ogawa was elected to the city council in 1966, making him the first Japanese-American to hold a council seat in a major city in the continental United States
The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...
. He held that position for 28 years until his passing -- the longest tenure in Oakland's history."
Legacy
Upon his death, the Oakland City Council
The Oakland City Council is an elected governing body representing the City of Oakland, California.
Since 1998, Oakland has had a mayor-council government. The mayor is elected for a four-year term. The Oakland City Council has eight council membe ...
Voted unanimously to rename City Hall Plaza in his honor as Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. The Plaza displays a Bronze Bust of Ogawa.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogawa, Frank H.
History of Oakland, California
Japanese-American internees
Japanese-American civil rights activists
1917 births
1994 deaths
American politicians of Japanese descent
Oakland City Council members
California politicians of Japanese descent
California Republicans
Deaths from lung cancer in California
People from Lodi, California
20th-century American politicians
Activists from California
Asian-American city council members