Different Mirror, A

Ronald Takaki: Life and Legacy

The grandson of Japanese immigrants, Ronald T. Takaki was born in Honolulu, Hawai'i, on April 12, 1939. Takaki's grandfather ventured to Hawai'i in 1886 seeking employment in the local sugarcane fields. Takaki's father died when Ronald was 7 years old; afterward, his mother and Chinese stepfather raised him. An avid surfer, Takaki expressed little interest in academics until a high school teacher encouraged him to attend college. Takaki enrolled at the College of Wooster in Ohio, graduating with a bachelor's degree in history in 1961.

Ronald Takaki authored A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, which examines minority perspectives in the United States. The work highlights various ethnic groups, incorporating quotes, folk songs, letters, photographs, and telegrams. The theme of “us against them” is woven throughout.

As one of only two Asian American students at Wooster, Takaki immediately realized others’ perception of him as an “outsider” on the American mainland. One of the most profound experiences that fostered Takaki's interest in ethnic studies occurred when one of his professors asked him how long he had lived in the United States and where he had learned to speak English. After informing his professor that he was from Hawai'i, his professor continued to question Takaki on how long he had lived in the United States. Takaki understood that his name and physical appearance marked him as “not American” to mainstream society, which lacks an awareness of the existence and experiences of marginalized groups.

Takaki went on to earn a master's degree in history at the University of California, Berkeley in 1962 and a Ph.D. in history (also at Berkeley) in 1967. His dissertation focused on the history of U.S. slavery. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), hired Takaki in 1967 to teach the university's first African American history class. After leaving UCLA, Takaki joined UC Berkeley and taught in its recently established Ethnic Studies program. He chaired Berkeley's Ethnic Studies department from 1975 to 1977 and was instrumental in designing the nation's first Ph.D. program in Comparative Ethnic Studies during the early 1980s. Takaki also played a critical role in the establishment of the “American cultures” general education requirement, which required all students to take a course focusing on ethnic and cultural diversity. This is now a standard requirement at many colleges and universities nationwide.

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