death_date religion home_town birth_place children awards article_title ethnicity name birth_date known_for alma_mater spouse employer birth_name occupation death_cause
06 january 1998 methodist florin , california san francisco , california marielle bliss tsukamoto national women 's history month 2006 honoree mary tsukamoto
 japanese mary tsukamoto 17 january 1915 time of 1988 of remembrance program , inspired civil liberties act california state university , sacramento college of the pacific alfred tsukamoto november 22 , 1936 elk grove unified school district mary tsuruko dakusaku educator , cultural historian , civil rights activist natural causes
mary tsukamoto

mary tsuruko dakusaku tsukamoto -lrb- 1915 -- 1998 -rrb- was a japanese american educator , cultural historian , and civil rights activist .
she had taught in the elk grove unified school district in sacramento , california for 26 years , and was described as having a passion to teach children how to learn from experience .
the daughter of japanese parents , she was relocated to an internment camp at jerome , arkansas , after the united states entered world war ii .
she developed a program about the internment period that is part of the california state curriculum for fifth grade history and a california museum of history tour exhibit .
she worked for japanese american civil liberties , and played a pivotal role in the grassroots effort that led to the civil liberties act of 1988 .
she also worked with the smithsonian institution in washington dc , where she developed an exhibit on internment for the constitution 's bicentennial .
in march 2006 , she was posthumously recognized as a national women 's history month honoree .
