Chiyoko Sakamoto

Chiyoko Sakamoto (1912–1994) was California's first Japanese American female lawyer.[1]

Chiyoko Takahashi
Born
Chiyoko Sakamoto Takahashi

(1912-06-30)June 30, 1912
Napa, California, U.S.
DiedDecember 2, 1994(1994-12-02) (aged 82)
Alma materAmerican University Washington College of Law
Employers
Organization(s)Japanese-American Bar Association and the California Women's Bar (founder of both)
SpouseTohru Takahashi
Parent(s)Hisamatsu and Kume Sakamoto
Little Tokyo, Downtown Los Angeles. Sakamota opened her private law practice in this community.
Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado.

Sakamoto was born on June 30, 1912, in Los Angeles, California, to Hisamatsu and Kume Sakamoto.[2][3] In 1938, she was admitted to practice law shortly after graduating from the American University Washington College of Law in Los Angeles, California.[4] Sakamoto worked as a secretary during the four years of her legal studies.[5] She became a legal assistant for a Japanese-American community leader after searching in vain for a law firm position.[6][7]

During World War II, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, Sakamoto was imprisoned in the Granada Internment Camp in Prowers County, Colorado.[8] Upon being released in 1947, she struggled yet again with finding employment.[9] Through her struggles, she met Harvard University-educated African-American attorney Hugh E. Macbeth Sr., who was a staunch defender of Japanese-Americans. He hired Sakamoto as an associate at his Los Angeles-based law firm. Sakamoto's coworkers included Eva M. Mack, a lawyer who worked with Macbeth Sr. on the California Supreme Court case Davis vs. Carter that pertained to a housing discrimination suit filed by jazz musician Benny Carter.[10][11][12] At the time, Sakamoto was unique in working for a non-Nisei law firm.

She eventually opened her own law firm in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and was one of the founders of the Japanese-American Bar Association and the California Women's Bar.[4] Sakamoto's husband, Tohru Takahashi,[13] was a farmer in New Mexico, and they owned various farms in California (she even managed some of them while simultaneously taking on cases).[14]

Sakamoto died in 1994.

See also

References
  1. Watson, Jonathan. "Legacy of American Female Attorneys (2016 rev.)" (PDF). Solano County Law Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 7, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  2. "Sakamoto-Sasano Family Collection". janm.emuseum.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  3. Saito, Matthew. "Chiyoko Sakamoto, a Trailblazer and Innovator of the Nikkei Community". Discover Nikkei. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  4. Parker, Monica R. (2010). What it Takes: How Women of Color Can Thrive Within the Practice of Law. American Bar Association. ISBN 9781590319925.
  5. "Society News". The Daily Chronicle. October 27, 1938. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  6. Beaton, Gail M. (2012-11-15). Colorado Women: A History. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 9781457173820.
  7. Beitiks, Kathleen. "Women in the Law: The Early Years" (PDF). State Bar of California: Celebrating 75 Years.
  8. "Japanese American Internee Data File: Chiyoko Sakamoto". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  9. Matsumoto, Valerie J. (2017-03-02). City Girls: The Nisei Social World in Los Angeles, 1920-1950. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190655204.
  10. "Davis v. Carter". Justia Law. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  11. Robinson, Greg (2016-09-01). The Great Unknown: Japanese American Sketches. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 9781607324294.
  12. Brilliant, Mark (2010-10-21). The Color of America Has Changed: How Racial Diversity Shaped Civil Rights Reform in California, 1941-1978. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199798810.
  13. "Legal Secretaries To Host Only Nisei Woman Attorney on Coast". Shin Nichibei. July 14, 1961. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  14. The Other Two JA women lawyers in Los Angeles—Chiyoko Sakamoto and Madge Watai, retrieved 2019-08-23
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