Inspiring Generations of AAPI Community Activists

​U.C. Davis Professor Isao Fujimoto ​(Sept. 28, 1933 - Feb. 25, 2022)

- By Andy Noguchi

Photo courtesy of Fujimoto Family

Isao Fujimoto opened eyes, stirred hearts, armed, and inspired generations of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community activists to change society for the better. His family aptly described him as both “a professor and community organizer”. Dr. Isao Fujimoto, PhD, passed away peacefully in his Davis home on February 25, 2022 at the age of 88.
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Shaped by His Family’s Concentration Camp Experience
His life experiences forever shaped Isao’s outlook, passion, and career. Isao was born and raised on a strawberry farm by his immigrant Japanese American parents on the Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington, farming there so they wouldn’t be restricted by the racist Alien Land Laws of the day. He was the oldest of 13 children.

Backlash from Japan’s December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor forced Isao’s family into a series of American concentration camps for 120,000 Japanese Americans from 1941-1945: First was the Portland “Assembly Center” in Oregon then Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Isao was then 8 years old.

​One week after December 7th, FBI agents arrested Isao’s father, a carpenter and community leader, and imprisoned him in a Missoula, Montana detention camp for a year and a half away from his family. After being reunited with his father, they were sent to the Tule Lake Segregation Center in California. This was a concentration camp for those who had dissented on a so-called “loyalty oath” to the government that had imprisoned them.

Isao’s Fujimoto’s ground-breaking 1969 article in Roots: An Asian American Reader (1971)

Over his adult years, Isao led an adventurous and many-storied life. He attended college at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford, historically Black Howard University, and Cornell (Isao later earned his PhD there at the age of 76 in 2010!). After college, the U.S. Army drafted him for the Korean War where he became a war correspondent. Isao also worked internationally in Indonesia, Honduras, the Philippines, Micronesia, and Japan where he supported social justice efforts.

Teaching and Community Organizing
Isao’s teaching/community organizing took off in 1967 when he took a Community Development teaching position at U.C. Davis. There he honed his unique teaching style of challenging assumptions, experiencing, engaging with people, organizing and building community. This inspired generations of students and community members spanning almost 55 years.

Physically, Isao was diminutive in stature yet a powerhouse of community organizing. He was gregarious in engaging people, inquisitive, and an ever-running “energizer bunny for social change”.

Over the years, Isao’s tremendous impact was wide-ranging from organizing rural communities with the Central Valley Project, supporting the start of the Davis Food Coop and Farmer’s Market, sustainable agriculture efforts, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Asian Rural Institute, and many others. (For a fuller picture of Isao, please see the resource materials at the end of this article.)

Isao and students celebrating UCD Asian American Studies 50th Anniversary. Photo from Asian American Studies.

A Pioneer of the Asian American Movement
Isao was a central figure in the emerging Asian American Movement for equality and self-determination in the 1960s and 1970s. He and other Asian American faculty worked closely with student leaders to establish one of the first Asian American Studies programs in the U.S. In 1969, Isao helped teach the first Asian American Studies class with student coordinator Brian Tom. In 1970 he helped found the Asian American Studies Division, to be directed by new faculty member George Kagiwada, that has now grown through more than 50 years.

As part of these efforts, Isao wrote a ground-breaking article in September, 1969: “The Failure of Democracy in a Time of Crisis – The Wartime Internment of Japanese Americans and its Relevance Today.” This exposed the racism and myths about the WWII concentration camps. Importantly, Isao sharply laid out the continuing importance of the Japanese American experience to democracy and the rights of individuals today.

Marielle Tsukamoto, an 85-year-old community leader, educator, and fellow WWII camp incarceree, credited Isao with bringing this history and story of camp injustice to people of her generation, inspiring them to speak up.

Isao also supported research and uncovering the true history of peoples long ignored. During the summer of 1969 he helped sponsor the Asian American Research Project. 17 students produced bibliographies, course materials, and a study of the Stockton Filipino community. Filipino farm labor organizers Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz spoke at the first Asian American Studies class in 1969 as part of this effort.

Decades later, Isao still continued his devotion to his students. Breana Inoshita, UCD Asian American Studies/Community Development Major, class of 2017, said, “Isao, or Professor Fujimoto as I knew him, was a pilar in the UC Davis community. I first met him after his retirement, and even then he gave his time generously to students and to the community.

Isao Fujimoto and early student and Filipino community researcher Albert Balingit (2020). Photo courtesy of Albert Balingit.

Isao also taught “Community and Everyday Life in Japan” (a U.C. Study Abroad Course) for 22 years from 1991-2013. Like his other classes, the focus was experiencing, understanding, and supporting people. Students were paired up with a local Japanese college student “tutor” and met with Japanese activists working on issues of homelessness, women’s rights, discrimination against outcasts in Japan, sustainable agriculture, and suicide among youth. Over 500 California students, mostly Asian Americans, built international solidarity and cultural understanding.

Isao Fujimoto and daughter Esumi folding origami paper cranes on the Florin Manzanar Pilgrimage bus (2010).

A Voice of Conscience for the Community
Throughout his over 50-year involvement, Isao contributed greatly to the Japanese American community. This ranged from supporting redress for those wrongly imprisoned during WWII, honoring sacrifices made during those times, and promoting the lessons of history. Isao clearly lived by his original 1969 essay “Failure of Democracy in Time of Crisis”.

Isao also remained true to his community organizing: Highlighting the importance of standing up for others, creating alliances, and building community.

​Isao was a thought-provoking and much-sought-after speaker for community and campus events ranging from the Florin Manzanar Pilgrimage (2006, 2010), Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony for WWII Japanese American Veterans (2012), and the Walerga Assembly Center Rededication (2015) to name just a few.

At the Gold Medal Ceremony, Isao spoke of the American Friend’s compassion for WWII Japanese Americans, working tirelessly to find jobs and colleges for thousands as they left the camps. During the 3-day Florin Manzanar Pilgrimage he commented on the value of “building community” through the shared experience to boost community strength. During the Walerga Rededication, Isao spoke of how the threats against Japanese Americans of the past continue to be a present-day danger to Muslim Americans and the need to stand up for them.

Remembering Isao
After Isao’s passing, many friends looked back on his life. “When you first met Isao Fujimoto, he was a kind and humble person, always supportive of students, encouraging, kind, inspirational, said Marielle Tsukamoto. Yes, we will miss him. However, Isao has already affected the future for all of us. We continue to benefit from his quest, efforts, and successes.”

​Young community leader Breana Inoshita said, Isao “showed many the value of community building, the strength in diversity, and the importance of social justice. There is no doubt that his work and wisdom will live on through his students and all who had the pleasure of knowing him.”
Well said.

Isao’s PhD party in 2010 with former students Andy Noguchi, Calvin Hara, and Asian American Studies Major Annie Kim Noguchi

Note: Andy Noguchi is the Co-President of the Florin Japanese American Citizens League – Sacramento Valley (Florin JACL-SV). After transferring from a community college to UC Davis, he met Isao in 1971. Andy worked on a number of campus and community efforts and events with Isao during the past 50 years.

​Additional Isao Fujimoto Resources:
Isao Fujimoto Obituary provided by his family to Davis Enterprise Newspaper: https://www.davisenterprise.com/obits/isao-fujimoto/?fbclid=IwAR1GqF7QbEFoz6CJ-PpmzXqFd2DFbqav4C277TU5HPhQ0Sb4iUQkrX4Cg3c
Isao Fujimoto Bouncing Back Multi-Media Presentation by Scott Tsuchitani (2017): https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=1df7d56eaa02432ea8cd6b62bf26ae43
Bouncing Back: Community, Resilience, and Curiosity book by Isao Fujimoto. (2017)
Isao Fujimoto Student Fund to Support Community Activism: https://give.ucdavis.edu/CLAS/ASIFGFT
Isao’s PhD party in 2010 with former students Andy Noguchi, Calvin Hara, and Asian American Studies Major Annie Kim Noguchi