How cool is this? Google honored Yuri Kochiyama, a well known Japanese/American activist, with a Google doodle on what would have been her 95th birthday. Yuri has such an inspiring history and we have everything you need to know!

You might not always click on the Google Doodle’s but you should. Google goes above and beyond to dedicate their homepage to an important figure in history for 24 hours and on May 19, Yuri Kochiyama was honored with her own Google Doodle. The late activist was born in California and lead a harrowing life that even involved her being sent to an internment camp during WWII.





It’s truly an honor to be on Google’s homepage and for quite a good reason — millions of people use the search engine every single day, which means millions upon millions of eyeballs on the Google Doodle, designed by artist Alyssa Winans. This is a wonderful way to honor Yuri’s legacy but also a great way to give a quick history lesson to the world. HollywoodLife.com has five things that you need to know about Yuri, that will definitely leave you feeling inspired. “Kochiyama left a legacy of advocacy: for peace, U.S. political prisoners, nuclear disarmament, and reparations for Japanese Americans interned during the war,” Google wrote. “She was known for her tireless intensity and compassion, and remained committed to speaking out, consciousness-raising, and taking action until her death in 2014.”

1. Yuri was born in San Pedro, Calif., and lived a relatively normal life until she graduated from Compton Junior College in 1941.

2. After the death of Yuri’s father, the United States declared that anyone of Japanese ancestry on the West coast had to be relocated to an internment camp, while WWII was going on.

3. Yuri met her husband Bill Kochiyama while at the camp in Jerome, Arkansas. They married in 1946 and moved to New York.

4. Yuri and Bill had over six children and eventually moved to Harlem, NY., in 1960.

5. She had a highly publicized friendship with Malcolm X which was said to have been “formative” in her reasons for become an activist. She spent her life fighting for things like: Puerto Rican independence, the Black Liberation movement and the redress for Japanese-American internees. Yuri died on June 1, 2014 at the age of 93.

HollywoodLifers, what do you think of the Google Doodle?