Frank H. Ogawa

Who was Frank H. Ogawa?

Frank H. Ogawa was a civil rights leader and the first Japanese American to serve on the Oakland City Council in which he served from 1966 until his death in 1994. Upon his death, the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to rename City Hall Plaza in his honor as the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. The plaza displays a bronze bust of Ogawa.

A Nisei, Ogawa was born in Lodi, California and never lived in Japan. Nevertheless, as Japanese Americans, the U.S. government involuntarily relocated Ogawa's family members to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Millard County, Utah and they were detained there for the duration of World War II. Ogawa married Grace Ogawa prior to their wartime detention and they had two children—Alan and Nancy. Nancy was born in the Topaz War Relocation Center but died at age 2.

After the war, Ogawa returned to Oakland where he found work as a gardener. Eventually, he borrowed and saved enough money to open his own nursery.

When Ogawa died, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, in her Tribute to Frank H. Ogawa, said:

"Frank Ogawa was a remarkable person because he could take personal misfortune and turn it into a positive learning experience for himself and others.