Harry Yoshio Ueno (Japanese: 上野 義雄, 1907-2004) was a Japanese-American union leader who was interned in Manzanar Concentration Camp.
He rose to prominence when he was arrested and removed from the camp after being accused of attacking the leader of the Japanese American Citizens League on the night of December 5, 1942.
[1] Harry Ueno was born on April 14, 1907, in Pau’ulino, Hawaii[clarification needed] and had an older and younger brother.
[2] In 1930 he married Japanese immigrant Yaso Taguchi Ueno and raised three sons near Los Angeles' Little Tokyo while doing work in the wholesale produce market.
It was at this time that many of the Issei and Kibei inhabitants were starting to become frustrated with the Japanese American Citizens League (JALC) for supporting their detention in the camp.
On December 5, 1942, a leader of the JACL, Fred Tayama was attacked and seriously injured by a group of six unidentified assailants in the middle of the night.
Despite repeatedly receiving promises from the WRA, Ueno’s demands for a trial or hearing to determine his guilt or innocence in the attack were never fulfilled.
Following his release from Camp Tulelake Ueno and his family moved to Santa Clara County where they grew cherries and strawberries on leased land for over twenty years.
[1] In 1985 he gave a tape recorded interview with California State University, Fullerton, oral historian Arthur Hansen which became the basis of the 1986 book Manzanar Martyr.