Edison Uno was a Japanese American

Japanese American

are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...

 civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 advocate, best known for opposing laws used to implement the mass preventative detention of Japanese Americans

Japanese American internment

Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...

 in the United States during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Uno was born in 1929 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California. In 1942, Uno was interned with his parents and siblings at the Granada War Relocation Center

Granada War Relocation Center

The Granada War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeast Colorado about a mile west of the small farming community of Granada, south of US 50....

 in Colorado. Not long after, he was transferred to the Crystal City Internment Camp

Crystal City Internment Camp

Crystal City Internment Camp was a World War II internment camp, named for Crystal City, Texas, the town where it was located. Many Japanese, German, and Italian Americans, as well as some Hispanics were imprisoned there for the duration of the war. Among the internees were many Japanese Peruvians...

 in Texas where he remained for the duration of World War II.

Following the war, Uno graduated from Los Angeles State College

California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...

 in political science. He later became involved in academia and various civil rights issues. Uno was active in grand jury reform, as well as in such civil rights issues as the Wendy Yoshimura

Wendy Yoshimura

Wendy Masako Yoshimura is an American still life watercolor painter better known for her involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was born in a World War II-era California internment camp, and raised in Japan and the Central Valley...

 Defense Fund, Title II Repeal, Redress for Evacuation, and the Japanese American Citizens League

Japanese American Citizens League

The was formed in 1929 to protect the rights of Japanese Americans from the state and federal governments. It fought for civil rights for Japanese Americans, assisted those in internment camps during World War II, and led a successful campaign for redress for internment from the U.S...

 (JACL), and worked on Farewell to Manzanar

Farewell to Manzanar

Farewell to Manzanar is a memoir published in 1973 by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. It was adapted in the form of a television movie in 1976 starring Yuki Shimoda, Nobu McCarthy, Pat Morita, and Mako....

television program.