Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education
| Non-Profit | |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
Key people | Karen Korematsu, Co-Founder Ling Woo Liu, Director |
| Website | korematsuinstitute.org |
The Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education is a non-profit organization which advances pan-ethnic civil rights and human rights through education.
History
In 1942, Fred Korematsu was arrested for refusing to be incarcerated in the government's WWII incarceration camps for Japanese-American citizens.[1] He appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled against him, saying the incarceration was justified due to military necessity.[2] Forty years later, the discovery of new evidence allowed Korematsu to re-open his case with a team of pro-bono lawyers. In 1983, a federal court in San Francisco overturned Korematsu's conviction.[3]
In 1998, Korematsu received from Bill Clinton the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.[4] Korematsu died in 2005 at the age of 86.
In 2009, the Asian Law Caucus, together with Fred's daughter, Karen Korematsu, launched the Korematsu Institute to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the reversal of Korematsu’s conviction.[5][6]
The Institute's members advocated for the designation of January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution in California, and the legislature approved this in 2010.[7] This was the first day in US history to be named after an Asian American.[8]
To mark the first Fred Korematsu Day on January 30, 2011[9] the Korematsu Institute began shipping out free Korematsu teaching kits to K-12 classrooms around California[10][11] and held a commemorative event at UC Berkeley.[12] Each year on Fred Korematsu Day the organization honors Japanese Americans who have contributed to the advancement of civil rights.[13]
In 2014, the Institute partnered with the San Joaquin County Office of Education to provide professional development for teachers on several civil rights topics, and was awarded a grant of $180,836.[14]
References
- ↑ "Dromm Honors Civil Rights Worker". Queens Gazette.
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/magazine/25korematsu.html
- ↑ Irons, Peter. Justice at War. University of California Press, 1993, p. 91-93.
- ↑ "Fred Korematsu -- he defied wartime order to internment camp". SFGate. 2005-04-01
- ↑ "Civil rights institute named for Korematsu". SFGate. 2009/04/28
- ↑ Karen Latchana Kenney (1 September 2012). Korematsu v. the United States: World War II Japanese-American Internment Camps. ABDO Publishing Company. pp. 133–. ISBN 978-1-61480-164-1.
- ↑ Xiaojian Zhao; Edward J.W. Park Ph.D. (26 November 2013). Asian Americans: An Encyclopedia of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 112–. ISBN 978-1-59884-240-1.
- ↑ "Fred Korematsu Day: California Honors a Civil Rights Hero"". TIME Magazine. 30 January 2011. Ling Woo Liu
- ↑ "Korematsu Day". New York Times, 2011/02/04.
- ↑ "Fred Korematsu Day a first for an Asian American". SFGate. 2011/01/28
- ↑ Mary Yu Danico (3 September 2014). Asian American Society: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. pp. 615–. ISBN 978-1-4522-8189-6.
- ↑ "The Daily Clog » Weekend Free-view: Be an Extra! See a Shipwreck! Celebrate F. Korematsu!". dailycal.org.
- ↑ "A Celebration of Heroes". Rafu Shimpo, J.K. YAMAMOTO, February 4, 2013
- ↑ "Shining light on dark chapter of Stockton's history". 'by Elizabeth Roberts, RecordNet. November 30. 2014