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Finding Aid for the Karl G. Yoneda papers, 1892-1998, bulk 1925-1989
1592
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Description
Karl G. Yoneda was a Kibei-nisei, born in Glendale, California in 1906 and stayed in Japan between 1913 and 1926. He returned
to the United States in 1927 and joined the American Communist Party. During World War II, Yoneda was incarcerated in the
Manzanar War Relocation Center and volunteered to join the Military Intelligence Service Language School from the camp. He
served for the China-Burma-India Theater as a member of the Psychological Warfare Team, the United States Office of War Information.
Starting in the late 1960s, Yoneda gave lectures and talks at various classes and programs of academic institutions in the
West Coast and Hawaii and authored publications in English and Japanese. The collection consists of materials related to Yoneda's
involvement in the Japanese American left and labor movement, World War II internment, and the United States Military services.
Includes original manuscripts, publications, correspondence, photographs, and photocopied testimonies and investigation case
files.
Background
Karl G. Yoneda was born in Glendale, California in 1906 to Japanese immigrant parents. Because of his father's illness, the
Yoneda family left the United States for Japan in 1913. During his stay in Japan, Yoneda received his education and was influenced
by left-wing and socialist ideas. Escaping from Japanese conscription, he returned alone to the United States in 1926. In
the United States he joined the American Communist Party, which launched his career as a labor and union organizer. As a longshoreman
by trade, he was affiliated with the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), and also served as the
vice president and delegate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations Alaskan Cannery Workers Union. He was an editor of
労働新聞 Rōdō Shinbun [= Japanese labor news] in San Francisco, an official newspaper of the Japanese section of the American
Communist Party, and a contributor to 同胞 Dōhō, a Japanese American leftist newspaper (a broad united front progressive paper)
published in Los Angeles. He was also a poet, publishing poems under several pseudonyms.
Extent
46 document boxes (23 linear feet)
3 oversize boxes
1 map folder
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the
creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright
owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Availability
Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library
Special Collections for paging information.