Lillian Kimura: First Woman President of JACL
By J.K. Yamamoto
One of the honorees at the National Japanese American Historical Society’s annual dinner was Lillian Kimura, who made history in 1992 by becoming the first female national president of the Japanese American Citizens League.
A California native, she was interned at Manzanar during World War II. She later earned degrees from University of Illinois and worked for the YWCA in Chicago, rising to the position of associate national executive director. She was also the first female president of Chicago’s Japanese American Service Committee.
Kimura, who now lives in New York, recalled being inspired by the YWCA in a video interview: “ What a lot of people don’t know is that back in the 1960s, the YWCA vacated all of their positions, staff positions, which was all white, then hired a multiracial group of women. I was so proud to work for the YWCA. Their mission was to eliminate racism and empower women, so that’s what I have tried to do in the jobs I held.”
A member of JACL for over 50 years, she said she joined the organization because “it was the only game in town, and I participated in it in order to make my voice heard. And if I don’t do that, then shame on me. Whatever JACL does is going to reflect on the Japanese community.”
She was active in the campaign for redress for Japanese American internees and ran for JACL national president twice. She won the second time in “a very contentious election.”
Kimura is proud that JACL passed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage during her tenure. “One of the chapters opposed it, so when it came up for discussion and a vote, you should have seen the whole long line of young people who were supporting it,” she recalled.
She credited Norman Mineta, a congressman at the time, with changing many minds. “Norman commented on the fact that a congressman from Massachusetts, Barney Frank, was a strong supporter of us in the redress movement, and he is gay. So we as a civil rights organization should support him. I think to this day there are not too many national organizations that have come out as strongly as we have.”
Still active with JACL’s New York Chapter and Eastern District Council, “I tell people now that anybody could be president,” she said.
Kimura is also involved with the American Jewish Committee and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, and was recently honored by the Anti-Defamation League at its annual “In Concert Against Hate” awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.
“One of the greatest distinctions is that I was one of the co-chairs of the 30th anniversary of the Martin Luther King march,” she said.
A frequent speaker at public schools, Kimura said, “I always tell the kids … about the Japanese American experience during World War II, so one of the things that I always tell them is be involved because you may be next ... I always tell them to vote because then you’re participating in democracy. We live in the greatest nation in the world and we’ve got to keep it great.”
In her acceptance speech, she thanked NJAHS for the recognition. “By honoring me they also honor JACL. I’m so happy to have been greeted by many JACL people who have come from a distance to attend this dinner tonight and the staff people who were always strong supporters of me while I was president.”
Noting that Helen Kawagoe, city clerk of Carson, Los Angeles County, was the second woman to be national president of JACL, Kimura stated, “She and I are waiting for the third, fourth, fifth.”
