Chiyoko Sakamoto

[5] She became a legal assistant for a Japanese-American community leader after searching in vain for a law firm position.

[6][7] During World War II, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, Sakamoto was imprisoned in the Granada Internment Camp in Prowers County, Colorado.

[9] Through her struggles, she met Harvard University-educated African-American attorney Hugh E. Macbeth Sr., who was a staunch defender of Japanese-Americans.

Sakamoto's coworkers included Eva M. Mack, a lawyer who worked with Macbeth Sr. on the California Supreme Court case Davis vs. Carter that pertained to a housing discrimination suit filed by jazz musician Benny Carter.

[4] Sakamoto's husband, Tohru Takahashi,[13] was a farmer in New Mexico, and they owned various farms in California (she even managed some of them while simultaneously taking on cases).