Ruby Hirose
Ruby Sakae Hirose (1904–1960) was an American biochemist and bacteriologist. She did research on blood clotting and thrombin, allergies, and researched cancer using antimetabolites. Family and early life Ruby Hirose was born to Shiusaka (father) Hirose and Tome (née Kurai) in Kent, Washington, on August 30, 1904. She was the second child of seven children in the family, but because the first child died very young, grew up as the oldest child of six in the family. She had four sisters and one brother, and they lived in the White River (Shirakawa) area around Seattle. The second child in the family was Fumiko, two years younger than Ruby. Fumi, as she was called, contracted tuberculosis as did her mother. Fumi died in 1925 and her mother Tome died in 1934. The third child in the family was brother Kimeo, who was two years younger than Fumi and excelled in sports in high school, lettering in three sports, and was named football captain and class treasurer. He lived until 1991. Mary, the next sibling, was a year younger than Kimeo. The last two children were twin girls: Toki and Tomo, born in 1912, were three years younger than Mary and 9 years younger than Ruby. Sister Tomo died in 1928 at age 16. Ruby's father was born in a Tokyo suburb, only had a middle school education, and according to Ruby, was in some type of manufacturing in Japan, but it failed. Ruby's mother Tome's family were dry goods merchants. After Shiusaka's business failed, they decided to come to America, settle in the Seattle area, and try farming for a living. Because the Naturalization Act of 1870 only extended citizenship rights to African Americans, Asians were deemed "aliens ineligible for citizenship". Several states, but specifically Washington, used this status to deny Asians from owning property because they were "aliens ineligible for citizenship", which was a way to discriminate without reference to particular racial categories. These provisions were not held unconstitutional until 1952. Thus, the lease for the Hirose land and some later land purchases were in Ruby's name because she was a natural-born American. In high school, Ruby said she felt no particular prejudice, but that later Japanese American children did. She said that the teachers showed prejudice in favor of the white pupils. Still, Ruby was popular and took part in athletics and sang in the glee club and in the operetta. Ruby said her preference was to associate with white students in high school as well as college, as opposed to associating with the Japanese children. Ruby was somewhat religious, attending Sunday School at the First Methodist Church and also taking part in the Japanese Students Christian Association which met at the University YMCA. She also helped at the Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, but preferred to attend the American churches. Education at University of Washington The Issei, or first generation, were the first people to immigrate to the U.S. from Japan. Because of this, they wanted their children,