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Mine Okubo: Following Her Own Road

Colin Richardson

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Mine Okubo (1912-2001) was a Japanese-American artist, author, and illustrator. She is best known for her graphic novel Farewell to Manzanar, which depicts her experiences as a young woman interned in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II.

Okubo was born in Riverside, California, in 1912. Her parents were both Japanese immigrants, and she grew up in a small Japanese-American community. Okubo showed an early talent for art, and she studied at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

Mine Okubo: Following Her Own Road

by Kerry Lonsdale

5 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	9402 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	282 pages

In 1942, Okubo was interned in the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California. Manzanar was one of ten internment camps where the U.S. government forcibly relocated over 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II. Okubo spent two years in Manzanar, and her experiences there had a profound impact on her life and art.

After the war, Okubo returned to San Francisco, where she worked as a freelance artist and illustrator. She also began writing and illustrating her own stories and articles, many of which dealt with the experiences of Japanese-Americans in the United States.

In 1954, Okubo published her most famous work, Farewell to Manzanar. The book is a graphic novel that tells the story of Okubo's experiences in Manzanar. Farewell to Manzanar was a critical and commercial success, and it has been translated into several languages. The book is still widely read today, and it is considered one of the most important works of literature about the Japanese American internment.

Okubo continued to work as an artist and writer until her death in 2001. She was a prolific artist, and her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. Okubo's legacy is one of courage, resilience, and creativity. Her work continues to inspire and challenge people today.