Nobuko JoAnne Miyamoto (born November 14, 1939) is a Japanese American folk singer, songwriter, author, and activist in the Asian American Movement. She was a member of the band Yellow Pearl along with Chris Kando Iijima and Charlie Chin. They are known for co-creating the 1973 folk album ''A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America''. This album is considered the first Asian-American album in history. She was a member of the band Warriors of the Rainbow during the late 1970s. In 2021, Miyamoto released an album titled ''120,000 Stories'', named after the approximate number of

Japanese Americans 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 ...

, Miyamoto included, who were incarcerated by the U.S. government 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 opposing ...

. She uses her music as a platform for her activism concerning issues such as the Asian American Movement, the

Black Lives Matter Movement Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

, and

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Early life

Miyamoto was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, on November 14,1939. According to Miyamoto, her earliest memory is of

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

racetrack, where she and her family were being temporarily held before being sent to the incarceration camps for Japanese Americans following President Franklin D. Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066, which authorized this mass imprisonment. Miyamoto and her family were sent to

Glasgow, Montana Glasgow is a city in and the county seat of Valley County, Montana, United States, the population was 3,202 at the 2020 census. Despite being just the 23rd most populous city in Montana, Glasgow is the most populous city for over , thus maki ...

, after her father volunteered to work harvesting beets on a farm. They were eventually released to live with Miyamoto's grandfather in Parker, Idaho, and later Ogden, Utah, until the end of World War II.

Dancing career

Miyamoto started dancing in the years following the war. She began appearing in films and productions, where she was known and credited as Joanne Miya. When she was 15, she appeared in the film version of ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...

'' (1956). She played Francisca, the girlfriend of one of the Sharks, in the 1961 film version of ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

'', appearing in all of the Sharks' musical numbers.

Singing and activism

In 1978, Miyamoto founded the multicultural arts organization Great Leap. Great Leap hosts FandangObon, a festival that brings together Japanese, Mexican, and African American music and dance traditions. The festival was founded by Miyamoto in collaboration with Chicano musician Quetzal Flores.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miyamoto, Nobuko JoAnne 1939 births Living people Asian-American movement activists Japanese-American civil rights activists American folk musicians Japanese-American internees Asian American music American women singer-songwriters American women writers American women writers of Asian descent American dancers of Asian descent People from Los Angeles