2010.54.914
(53.34 cm HIGH x 35.56 cm WIDE)
Top edge has text in black "I am free because I have the people's help. / Without the people's trust, I haven't got a / chance for a fair trial. / I have their trust totally. / Wendy Yoshimura". Poster has yellow background and image of Wendy Yoshimura with image of a scale in the top right. Bottom of the poster has the text in red: "Wendy Yoshimura Fair Trial Committee / 330 Ellis St. San Francisco 94102". Wendy Masako Yoshimura (born in the Manzanar Internment Camp January 17, 1943) is a still life watercolor painter better known for her involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). She was not involved in the infamous kidnapping of Patty Hearst. She was, however, convicted on explosives and weapons charges stemming from involvement with a previous militant group in 1972 and served a short prison sentence. Her trial drew considerable support from the Japanese-American community. [LMC]
The poster image is based on a 1976 photo of Wendy Yoshimura taken by photographer Nancy Wong. Wong notes: "The silkscreen artist, Paul Kagawa, from San Francisco's JAM (Japantown Art & Media Workshop) probably eliminated the right hand holding the cigarette to get a cleaner line to simplify the image. I can tell you that certain members of the Japanese American community criticized the cigarette in the photograph when it was first published in the March 1, 1976 issue of Newsweek because they didn't think it was a ladylike gesture." [NPK 5/31/13]
