SAN FRANCISCO — Civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, whose photo famously appeared in Life magazine cradling the head of Malcom X moments after he was shot, died of natural causes Sunday in her Berkeley home, her family said. She was 93.

Among her many accomplishments during 50 years of work, Kochiyama’s activism led directly to the U.S. Senate’s agreement to pay reparations and apologize to Japanese-Americans and others who were interred during the World War II.

Kochiyama was born in San Pedro, California, to a middle-class family. She and her family were interred for two years in Arkansas during World War II. After the war, she moved to New York and married her husband, Bill, who died in 1993.

After her release at the war’s conclusion, Kochiyama dedicated her life to social activism that spanned races, nationalities and causes, including vocal opposition of the Vietnam War and anti-apartheid policies in South Africa while supporting independence for Puerto Rico.

“Her tireless dedication to civil rights helped inspire generations of activists, including within the American Muslim community,” the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said.

The mother of six was at the Audubon Ballroom Auditorium in New York when assassins shot Malcolm X. She also wrote a memoir, “Passing It On,” and is survived by four of her six children.

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