Sakaye Shigekawa (January 6, 1913 – October 18, 2013) was an American
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner ( Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through t ...
who specialized in
obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
. Born to Japanese-American parents, she was imprisoned and forced to live and work at an
internment camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...
in California, providing medical care to fellow Japanese-American internees during World War II. She completed her training in Chicago before returning to Los Angeles in 1948, where she practiced for more than 50 years.
Early life
Shigekawa was born in 1913 in
South Pasadena, California
South Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,619, up from 24,292 at the 2000 census. It is located in the West San Gabriel Valley. It is 3.42 square miles in area an ...
. Her father, Tsunetaro Shigekawa, worked as a gardener and a hog farmer, while her mother, Shina (Nagasaki) Shigekawa, was a
picture bride
The term picture bride refers to the practice in the early 20th century of immigrant workers (chiefly Japanese, Okinawan, and Korean) in Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States and Canada, as well as Brazil selecting brides from their nativ ...
; both had migrated to the United States from
Shikoku
is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...
.
She and her twin sister, younger sister, and younger brother grew up in a house on
Central Avenue in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, in a neighborhood that housed numerous
Japanese American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
s.
She was inspired to become a physician when her father was hospitalized for
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
.
After graduating from
Jefferson High School, she studied at
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
(USC) and then the
Stritch School of Medicine
Stritch School of Medicine is the medical school affiliated with Loyola University Chicago. It is located at the heart of the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. The medical campus includes Foster G. McGaw Hospital, Cardinal ...
at
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint Ign ...
.
[
She had wanted to complete her medical degree at USC, but when she applied in 1935 the university did not admit women to the medical program.]
She graduated from Loyola in 1940.
Career
Shigekawa completed her medical internship at Mercy Hospital in Bay City, Michigan, where she became the second female medical intern
A medical intern is a physician in training who has completed medical school and has a medical degree but does not yet have a license to practice medicine unsupervised. Medical education generally ends with a period of practical training similar t ...
.[
She began her residency at Los Angeles County Hospital but all of the hospital's Japanese-American staff were dismissed in 1941 in the aftermath of the ]attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...
. She then worked briefly at Seaside Memorial Hospital before being forced to move to the Santa Anita Assembly Center, a processing center for the internment of Japanese Americans
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...
during World War II, where she was one of seven imprisoned physicians of Japanese background who provided care for 17,000 fellow inmates.[ Shigekawa was the youngest of the doctors at 29 years old, and the only woman.][ When she was ordered to move to Wyoming to be interned and work at the ]Heart Mountain Relocation Center
The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain and located midway between the northwest Wyoming towns of Cody and Powell, was one of ten concentration camps used for the internment of Japanese Americans evicted ...
, another internment camp for Japanese Americans, she sent letters to the government saying that she refused to go and that if forced to move there she would not work.[
She was subsequently released to live in Chicago, where she finished her residency in ]obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
at Walter Memorial Hospital. She worked at a private practice with another woman physician until 1948, when she returned to Los Angeles.[
Shigekawa set up a medical practice on ]Santa Monica Boulevard
Santa Monica Boulevard is a major west–east thoroughfare in Los Angeles County. It runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean to Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It passes through Beverly Hills and West ...
in Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
in 1949. In the same year, she began working at Queen of Angels Hospital
The Queen of Angels Hospital was a private hospital complex located at 2301 Bellevue Avenue in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The 404-bed hospital was founded in 1926 by the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart and bui ...
in Los Angeles, where she was the first Japanese-American staff member, and in 1977 she became the first woman to be elected president of the hospital.[ She worked at her Hollywood practice for more than 50 years, and in 2000 she estimated that throughout her career she had delivered between 20,000 and 30,000 babies.]
In 1993, Shigekawa received Loyola University's Stritch Award "for outstanding research or humanitarian contributions in medicine".[ She served as president of Japanese Community Health Inc. and was a member of the Japanese American Medical Association.][
]
Death
Shigekawa died in Los Angeles on October 18, 2013, aged 100.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shigekawa, Sakaye
1913 births
2013 deaths
American centenarians
American obstetricians
American women physicians
American physicians of Japanese descent
Japanese-American internees
Loyola University Chicago alumni
People from South Pasadena, California
Physicians from California
University of Southern California alumni
Women centenarians
20th-century American women
21st-century American women