Lilian Lida Matsumoto

Compassionate advocate and dedicated social worker

Lillian Lida Matsumoto attended the University of California, Berkeley, completing her undergraduate degree in 1933. She was initially barred from postgraduate studies in social welfare because of her ethnicity, but after contesting the decision, she became the only Japanese American student then in the Graduate School of Social Welfare, not yet certified as a master's level program. Her matriculation in 1935 led to a graduate certificate, later recognized as equivalent to a graduate degree. Matsumoto soon became an advocate, program administrator, and direct practitioner.

Matsumoto was then hired as assistant to the superintendent at Shonien (Children's Garden), a home for Japanese children in Los Angeles. It was at Shonien that she met her future husband, Harry Matsumoto, who served on its Board of Directors.

A few years later, the West Coast Japanese-American community was severely impacted by social fallout from the Pearl Harbor bombing and its follow-up FBI-detention of all Japanese men of prominence. When the Shonien superintendent was thus detained, the Board appointed Matsumoto to his position despite her youthful 28 years. Months later, a federal Executive Order mandated the removal of all people of Japanese ancestry from their West Coast homes and properties, forcing their relocation to internment camps.

Matsumoto responded by advocating for all the children in institutional homes, such as Shonien and two others in San Francisco, to be moved to the same camp instead of isolating them in the cities or scattering them. Manzanar was offered, and Matsumoto agreed.

There, the designated space for the children was called the Children's Village. It was run by Matsumoto and her husband until September 1944. The emotional needs of Manzanar's 10,000 incarcerated people were also tremendous. In response, Matsumoto and Manzanar's Community Welfare Superintendent Margaret d'Ile, also from Berkeley, developed program criteria and training in counseling for other residents.

When the Matsumotos left Mazanar, they made a special request to take with them one of the orphans whom they adopted. After leaving Children's Village, Matsumoto raised her children and then worked for the Library on the UC Berkeley campus for 19 years before retiring. She passed away in 2014 at the age of 101.

In the short time that she practiced social work, Matsumoto positively impacted the lives of 105 Californian-Japanese orphans and hundreds more of their fellow captives during a very chaotic and dark time. Her caring, thoughtful, and well-implemented interventions, and her expertise in program development, practice, and education produced positive, tangible results, benefiting thousands of vulnerable people.