AANHPI History Calendar

· Los Angeles, California

Miyoshi Umeki Wins an Academy Award

achievement

Miyoshi Umeki won Best Supporting Actress for Sayonara, becoming the first performer of Asian descent to win an acting Oscar. (Shares Mar 26 with the 1790 Naturalization Act.)

Communities
  • Japanese American
Topics
  • arts
Event type
  • achievement/first
Identity lens
  • women

Sources

  • oscars.org oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1958
  • cinema.ucla.edu cinema.ucla.edu/blog/archival-treasures-miyoshi-umeki-first-asian-woman-to-win-oscar

Also on March 26

injustice

Naturalization Act of 1790 Enacted

The first federal naturalization law limited citizenship to 'free white persons,' establishing the racial bar that would later exclude Asian immigrants from naturalizing for over 150 years.