About this Collection
Yoneda was born in Glendale, California, in 1906. He studied in Japan from 1913-26 and returned to the United States in 1927. He joined the American Communist Party and which launched his career as a labor activist. A longshoreman by trade, he was affiliated with the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), and also served as a Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) labor organizer. He edited the Rodo Shimbun (Japanese Labor News), the publication of the Japanese Bureau of the American Communist Party and wrote 5 books, 4 in Japanese. He and his wife, Elaine, were interned at the Manzanar Relocation Center. After his release from Manzanar, Yoneda served in the United States Military Intelligence Service as a Japanese language specialist in the China-Burma-India theater. The collection consists of materials related to the history of Japanese involvement in the American left and labor movements. Of note are leaflets and newspapers published and distributed by the Japanese Bureau of the American Communist Party and the files of the Rodo Shimbun Co. (Japanese Labor News). There is also material related to Yoneda's and Elaine's internment at the Manzanar Relocation Center. Most of the collection is in English and Japanese with portions in Chinese, Korean, Kachin, Shan, Burmese and Vietnamese.