Dr. Franklin Odo passed away on September 28, 2022. Dr. Odo was best known for being the founding director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and for his path-breaking research on Japanese American history. His books include Roots: An Asian American Reader (1971), No Sword to Bury: Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i During World War II (2004), and Voices from the Canefields: Folksongs from Japanese Immigrant Workers in Hawai‘i (2013). He was among the first generation of scholars that helped establish the foundations of Asian American Studies.
Dr. Odo also served as President of the Association for Asian American Studies between 1989 and 1991. For his immense contributions to the field, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from AAAS. His passing is a huge loss to our community. We offer our deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and the larger Asian American community.