Yuki Okinaga Llewellyn

Yuki Helen Okinaga Hayakawa Llewellyn (April 22, 1939 – March 8, 2020) was an American child survivor of the Japanese internment process during World War II. A 1942 photograph of her sitting on her mother's luggage became an iconic image of the era. In adulthood, Llewellyn was assistant dean of students at the University of Illinois, and frequently spoke on her childhood experience of displacement and incarceration.

Yuki Okinaga Llewellyn
A small Asian girl is seated on luggage and large bundles, holding a partially eaten apple.
Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa, photographed in 1942 by Clem Albers at Union Station
Born
Yukiko Helen Okinaga Hayakawa

(1939-04-22)April 22, 1939
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedMarch 8, 2020(2020-03-08) (aged 80)
Columbia, Missouri, U.S.
EducationLake Forest College (BA)
Tulane University (MFA)
OccupationAcademic administrator

Early life and education
Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa, photographed at Union Station, Los Angeles, by Russell Lee (April 1942)

Yuki Helen Okinaga Hayakawa was born in Los Angeles in 1939, the daughter of Jacob Hideto Okinaga and Mikiko Hayakawa.[1] Her mother was born in Wyoming but raised in Japan. Her parents divorced in 1941.[2] When she was two years old, she and her mother were relocated by the United States government under Executive Order 9066. They were sent to the Manzanar War Relocation Center. A photograph of her as a tiny child, waiting with her mother's bags at Union Station, became famous.[3][4]

Mikiko Hayakawa and Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa stayed at Manzanar until October 1945.[5] "I was lucky to have been a child — a young child at that — I didn't know what it was like not to be incarcerated," she recalled sixty years later.[6] A sponsor family in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted the mother and child upon their release. Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa earned a scholarship to attend Lake Forest College. She graduated in 1962, with a bachelor's degree in drama. She pursued further studies at Tulane University, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1966.[3]

Career

Llewellyn worked at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign for most of her career, beginning as a secretary in the public relations department and rising to the rank of assistant dean of students and director of registered student organizations.[7] She was executive director of the University of Illinois Mothers Association,[8] and compiled a fundraiser cookbook for the organization.[9] She also directed theatrical productions in Urbana.[1]

Llewellyn was still at Illinois in 2005, when the school opened its Asian American Cultural Center, and she was always willing to speak to students about her childhood experiences with displacement and incarceration.[3] Also in 2005, she made her first return visit to Manzanar since 1945, with photographer Paul Kitagaki Jr.[10]

Personal life

Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa married Don Alvin Llewellyn. They had a son David Tatsuo Llewellyn, and later divorced. Yuki Okinaga Llewellyn died in 2020, in Columbia, Missouri, aged 80 years.[3][4] Her photograph is displayed prominently at the Manzanar National Historic Site,[11] and has appeared on book covers and museum exhibits over the years.[12]

References
  1. DeSando, Sam. "Tribute to Yuki Llewellyn". Asian American Cultural Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  2. "Mikiko Hayakawa". The News-Gazette. July 12, 2009. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  3. "OBITUARY: Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa Llewellyn, Little Girl in Famous 1942 Photo". Rafu Shimpo. 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  4. Marble, Steve (2020-07-17). "Yuki Llewellyn, a child of Manzanar whose image touched America, dies at 80". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  5. "Yuki Llewellyn". The San Francisco Examiner. 1992-02-16. p. 39. Retrieved 2020-12-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Mauch, Ally (July 17, 2020). "Yuki Llewellyn, Pictured Going to Internment Camp at Age 2 in Historic Photo, Dies at 80: Report". People. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  7. Schalk, Barbara (1985-05-06). "Groups Proliferate at the U of I". Herald and Review. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-12-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "U of I Mothers Director to Give Program Nov. 6". The Rock Island Argus. 1978-10-27. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-12-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Slatkow, Jackie (1979-11-18). "Mothers Association Jumps on Bandwagon with New Cookbook". The Rock Island Argus. p. 29. Retrieved 2020-12-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. Wolgast, Stephen (2019-07-30). "How do you photograph something that happened four generations ago?". NPPA. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  11. Darosa, Alison (2006-08-24). "Dark Chapter in History Retold at Manzanar". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-12-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Llewellyn, David Tatsuo (July 27, 2020). "Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa Llewellyn: A Life Beyond the Iconic World War II Photo". Discover Nikkei. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
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