From DiscoverNikkei.org
Yoshiko Uchida
Writer (1921-1992)
Yoshiko Uchida, a Nisei, was born in 1921 in Alameda, California. She was raised in Berkeley and later attended the University of California there. When the United States Government ordered Japanese Americans to be evacuated from their homes in 1942, the Uchida family was sent to Topaz, an internment camp in Utah, for almost three years. Uchida taught elementary school while living in camp and recorded a number of her experiences in journals.
After her family’s release from Topaz, Uchida earned her master’s degree in education at Smith College. She later earned a fellowship from the Ford Foundation and was sent to Japan where she collected folk tales and cultivated an interest in Japanese arts and crafts. Uchida had written stories since she was a young girl and often recalled the folktales told to her by her mother. The Dancing Kettle and Other Japanese Tales, published in 1949, included a number of these tales.
In addition to many children’s books, Yoshiko Uchida wrote books for adult readers. Journey to Topaz, Picture Bride, and A Jar of Dreams all deal with ethnicity, identity, and cultural relationships from a Japanese American perspective. In 1982, her autobiography, Desert Exile, was published.
Yoshiko Uchida wrote steadily until her death in 1992. Her last works, The Bracelet and The Magic Purse, were children’s books and were published posthumously.
Sources:
- Archives: Papers and photographs donated by Uchida to the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. (Online Archive of California)
- Yoshiko Uchida Scrapbook (University of California, Berkeley) Scanned images from a scrapbook Uchida kept during her internment at the Tanforan Racetrack and the Topaz internment camp.
Works
- Picture Bride. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997.
- "Study Guide for "Picture Bride" (Glencoe Literature Library) (PDF)