One of the most iconic images of Yuri Kochiyama shows the young political activist cradling the head of her friend, Malcolm X, as he lay dying after being gunned down by assassins. This memorable scene reflects only a moment in the decades-long civic activism of this driven, passionate hero and champion of the dispossessed. Kochiyama would spend her entire adult life working tirelessly to protect the rights of all Americans living at the margins of society.
As a survivor of the U.S. camps that held Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans in incarceration camps during World War II, she formed the foundations of her life’s work to reach out to anyone she felt was being crushed by the white majority. She helped Puerto Ricans seeking independence, African Americans struggling to find equality, and many others, placing no borders on her willingness to fight the good fight. Yuri Kochiyama would have been 100 years old on May 21, in a month dedicated to Asian Pacific American Heritage.
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery holds another meaningful photograph of Kochiyama marching in the streets of New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood to defend the rights of Silver Palace restaurant workers who had lost their jobs after refusing to share a higher percentage of their tips with the restaurant’s owners. With Kochiyama’s help, the staff won their fight and regained their jobs. Photographer Corky Lee, who worked throughout his life to capture important moments in the lives of Asian Americans, took the photo in 1980, when Kochiyama was in her late 50s.
“It’s that perfect combination of subject and artist. You have someone behind the camera who cares passionately about documenting the Asian American experience and giving presence to a community that was so often either overlooked or maligned. And you have an activist subject with Yuri Kochiyama, who did not limit her activism to causes related to her Asian American experience, but also connected with Malcolm X and with the Young Lords organization, the Latinx activist group in New York. It’s the perfect visual document for the museum’s collection,” says Smithsonian senior curator Ann Shumard.