Chiye Tomihiro photograph collection

Chiye Tomihiro was born in Portland, Oregon in December of 1924. On Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941, Chiye’s father, Senichi Tomihiro, was detained by the FBI because he was a former president of the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce. He was placed into the Santa Fe Department of Justice camp for a three year period while his daughter and wife, Satoru, were sent to the Portland Assembly Center and then to the Minidoka Relocation Center.

Chiye left camp in April of 1943 to attend Denver University with funding and assistance from the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. She transferred to the University of Wisconsin where she majored in Mathematics with a minor in business. She and her parents eventually moved to Chicago, Illinois. Chiye Tomihiro passed away on October 21, 2012.

Source: Tomihiro, Chiye