Mary Yuriko Nakahara is born in San Pedro, California. ”
— May 19, 1921
“Japan bombs Pearl Harbor; Yuri’s father is unjustly arrested and detained by the FBI.”
— December 7, 1941
“Yuri’s father, Seiichi Nakahara, passes away in their home a day after his release from FBI custody.”
— January 21, 1942
“Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, forcibly evacuating and interning 120,000 Japanese Americans.”
— February 19, 1942
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Yuri and her family are transferred from the Santa Anita Assembly Center to the Jerome War Relocation Center in Jerome, Arkansas, where they will reside until the war ends in 1945.”
— October 16, 1942
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Yuri meets Bill Kochiyama in Hattiesburg, Mississippi at Camp Shelby.”
— November 20, 1943
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Bill and Yuri marry and settle in Bill’s hometown, New York City.”
— February 9, 1946
“Bill and Yuri’s first child, William (Billy), is born. Over the next 12 years, Yuri and Bill have 5 more children (Audee, Aichi, Eddie, Jimmy, Tommy) while living at the Amsterdam Housing Projects on 63rd Street and Amsterdam from 1948 to 1960. ”
— May 1, 1947
“Yuri and Bill co-found the Nisei Service Organization (NSO), which later became the Nisei Sino Service Organization (NSSO) to include both Japanese American and Chinese American veterans. With the NSSO, Yuri and Bill start their Saturday night “open house” in their home. ”
— 1951
“Yuri briefly meets civil rights leader Daisy Bates, the President of the Arkansas NAACP and a key figure in the Little Rock 9 case, exposing her to the civil rights movement.”
— 1958
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Bill, Yuri and their 6 children move into the Manhattanville Houses on 126th Street in Harlem, across the street from Bill’s childhood home.”
— December 1960
“Bill and Yuri continue their Saturday night “open house.” Over the years their guests transition from international visitors, actors, and local NY friends, to activists and artists involved with civil rights, Black liberation and other movements.”
— 1960s to 1980s
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Yuri meets Malcolm X at the Downstate Hospital protest arrest hearing and soon after joins his organization, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU).”
— October 16, 1963
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Yuri begins her formal education in Black Liberation; over the next 10 years, she is an engaged student/member in a number of community-based committees and schools including:
• Harlem Parents Committee • Harlem Freedom School • Organization of Afro American Unity • Amiri Baraka Black Arts School • Free University • Nation Building Classes”
— 1963
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Malcolm visits Yuri’s home to meet with a group of Japanese reporters from the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Study Mission.”
— June 6, 1964
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Yuri and her son Billy Kochiyama witness the assassination of Malcolm X at the Audubon Ballroom.”
— February 21, 1965
“Yuri is deeply engaged in numerous overlapping/intersecting BIPOC movements – the Asian American movement, reparations (for Black people, Native Americans and Japanese/Latinx Americans), Black arts and Black Nationalism and in organizing support for political prisoners and their families. Below are some, but not all, of the organizations she worked with at this time:
• Asian Americans for Action • Republic of New Africa • New Afrikan People’s Organization • Black Panther Party • Young Lords • National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners • Japanese Americans Redress & Reparations Committee • United Front (Against U.S. Terrorism)”
— 1965-1973
“Yuri expands her activism to include anti-imperialist/Third World liberation and human rights movements and struggles; she joins movements against apartheid in South Africa, in support of Native American and Hawaiian sovereignty, a Palestinian homeland, and independence for Puerto Rico and in solidarity with Cuba and against all U.S. interventions abroad.”
— Mid- 1970s-1980s
“Yuri and Bill’s eldest child, Billy, passes away at age 28. ”
— October 15, 1975
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Yuri is arrested for participating in the takeover of the Statue of Liberty supporting Puerto Rican nationalists.”
— October 25, 1977
“At the age of 67, Yuri visits Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade.”
— 1987
“Bill and Yuri’s daughter, Aichi, passes away at the age of 37.”
— November 19, 1989
“Yuri and Bill co-found the David Wong Support Committee in New York to support a Chinese national incarcerated in New York State.”
— 1992
“Bill Kochiyama, Yuri’s partner of 47 years, passes away.”
— October 25, 1993
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Yuri visits over 100 high schools and colleges spanning more than 15 states (and Canada), speaking about the Asian American movement, Malcolm X, the history of solidarity and coalition building between Blacks and Asians and other communities, US foreign policy and other related topics.
Yuri receives numerous awards including:
• New York State Governor’s Award for - Outstanding Asian American (1994) • Frederick Douglass Award from North Star Fund (1994) • Charles Bannerman Memorial Fellowship (1994) • Dean’s Medal from CUNY School of Law, Queens College (1996) • Japanese American of the Biennium from Japanese American Citizens League (1996)”
— 1990s
“Yuri relocates to Oakland, California and continues to organize, speak and work with young activists.”
— 1999
“The Life and Times of Yuri Kochiyama, as told to Mayumi Nakazawa, is published in Japanese (Bungei Shunju).
”
— 1999
“Yuri is featured in “Cool Women” television series directed by Debbie Allen.”
— 2001
“Yuri co-founds the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (APSC) in Oakland, CA.”
— 2002
“Yuri’s memoir, Passing it On: A Memoir by Yuri Kochiyama (2004) wins Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights.
”
— 2004
“Yuri receives Honorary Degree from Wesleyan University.”
— 2004
“Yuri nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the “1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005” Project.”
— 2005
“Diane Carol Fujino publishes the biography “Heartbeat of the Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama” (University of Minnesota).
”
— 2005
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Yuri celebrates her 88th birthday with family and friends in San Francisco.”
— 2009
“Yuri receives Honorary Doctorate Degree from California State University, East Bay.”
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