Mary Tsukamoto

Life in Japanese internment camps In May 1942, as part of the enforcement of Executive Order 9066, Tsukamoto, her husband Al, and daughter Marielle, were sent to the Fresno Assembly Center. She taught the children there at a makeshift summer school, and also taught basic English and public speaking to the adults. She said that she was shocked that human beings were fenced in like animals, and that they were no longer free. The National Women's History Project wrote, "the hardship and humiliation of the internment experience fueled much of Mary’s passion for justice as a teacher, community leader, and civil rights activist."

In 1943, Tsukamoto's brother-in-law and husband were permitted to leave the camp to take jobs. Mary and Marielle were released in November 1943, and moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to join them. After President Roosevelt lifted the ban on individuals of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast, they returned to their farm in Florin in 1945.

Dedication to education Tsukamoto was encouraged by Isabell Jackson, the principal of her daughter's school, to pursue a teaching career. She became one of the first certificated Japanese-American teachers by joining Florin Elementary School in the Elk Grove School District as a third grade teacher.

In 1983, Tsukamoto launched the Time of Remembrance program, which was a way to bring Elk Grove students into contact with former internees. The students listened to stories from Japanese Internment camp victims, looked at photographs and artifacts, and learned what it means to be an American citizen.

Dedication to civil rights liberties Tsukamoto's growing discontent over the treatment of Japanese Americans in World War II played a major role in her quest for redress. In 1981, she testified in the Congressional hearings by the United States Commission on Wartime Internment and Relocation of Civilians, Her daughter, Marielle, said that one of her mother's proudest moments came when President Ronald Reagan signed House Resolution 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, where the U.S. government apologized for the internment of Japanese Americans; it stated that the internment was a "grave injustice to both citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry", and granted each detainee US$20,000 for "the incalculable losses in education and job training, all of which resulted in significant human suffering … for these fundamental violations of basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these individuals" Mary Tsukamoto lived by the motto that "never again" should citizens lose their fundamental rights. where workshops and special exhibit tours are held seasonally.

The California State Senate recognized her as a Notable Californian. In March 2006, she was one of ten women recognized as a National Women's History Month honoree.

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