Norman Mineta, who was the first Asian American ever to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary and who in childhood had been incarcerated during World War II for his Japanese ancestry, died Tuesday at his home in Maryland, his former aide said. He was 90.
During his over 20 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mineta worked to address the country's historical injustice of having forced some 120,000 Japanese Americans into wartime internment camps.
Born in San Jose, California, to Japanese immigrant parents, Mineta was among the many individuals who were labeled "enemy aliens" and forced to leave their homes after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which drew the United States into war.