Evelyn Yoshimura

Evelyn Yoshimura (b. 1948) is a Japanese American scholar and ethnic studies activist. She helped change the curriculum at Cal State University Long Beach (CSULB).

Ethnic studies

She wanted universities to have ethnic studies courses--a class where you learn about the culture and history of non-White races. Yoshimura and other students of color fought for these classes to be added. They wanted their classes to reflect all the different races at the university. The university ignored the students. The students held protests. At one protest, violence started between protestors and people who did not want ethnic studies classes. After the protests, CSULB added some ethnic studies courses to the curriculum.

Yoshimura also helped create the Amerasia bookstore. The bookstore was one of the only places that sold books by Japanese-American authors. In the early 1970s, Evelyn joined the newspaper Gidra. Gidra wrote about the Asian-American movement. It’s often viewed as “the voice of the Asian-American movement”. She’s also an original staff member for the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), which supports Japanese-Americans, especially in Los Angeles’ “Little Tokyo” district. After the LA riots in 1992, they helped Asian-Americans and other riot victims as well. The LTSC was an existing community service group that was already organized. This made it easier for them to help.