Japanese American National Museum Statement on the Passing of Franklin Odo

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) is deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Franklin Odo on September 28, 2022. Odo was an early advisor and longtime friend of JANM. He was the founding director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC) from 1997–2010, a professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawai‘i, and a visiting professor of History and American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Hunter College, Princeton University, and Columbia University. Most recently, he was the John Woodruff Simpson Lecturer in American Studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He earned his PhD from Princeton University.

Odo provided invaluable counsel to JANM over the years. From 1987 to 1989, Odo participated in the National Scholars Advisory Council which helped build JANM and shaped the theoretical framework of the Museum’s inaugural exhibition, Issei Pioneers, Hawai‘i and the Mainland, 1885–1924. In 1990, he participated in the Museum’s Pau Hana Plantation Fair in Hawai‘i, which was held to ensure that the Hawaiian story was part of JANM’s inaugural exhibition. In 1994 Odo was the keynote speaker for JANM’s National Teachers Institute event in Hawai‘i. The institute was created to ensure that the stories of the Japanese in America were part of the school curriculum. In 1999 Odo was an important advisor to JANM’s exhibition, From Bento to Mixed Plate: Americans of Japanese Ancestry in Multicultural Hawai‘i, which he brought to the Smithsonian as the APAC director. APAC was an early project partner of JANM’s Discover Nikkei, which launched in March 2005.

JANM also hosted Odo for readings from his books, No Sword to Bury: Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i during WWII (2004), and Voices From the Canefields: Folksongs from Japanese Immigrant Workers in Hawai‘i (2013), and interviewed him on Discover Nikkei. He also participated in the Museum’s 2013 national conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

“We are deeply saddened by Franklin's passing. He was a respected scholar and pioneer in Asian Americans Studies and a great friend to the Museum. His contributions to JANM, academia, and Japanese American history will always be treasured,” said Ann Burroughs, President and CEO.

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