Fred T. Korematsu. Hand-colored gelatin silver print, c. 1940. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Fred T. Korematsu Family.

On February 2, civil rights icon Fred T. Korematsu will become the first Asian American featured in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery permanent exhibition, “The Struggle for Justice.” Two 1940s-era original photographs of Korematsu will be presented on February 2 at 9:30 a.m. at the Portrait Gallery in a private event featuring speakers including Congresswoman Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the Honorable Norman Y. Mineta, former US Secretary of Transportation. The photographs will be available for public view when the museum opens at 11:30 a.m.

The event takes place just three days after the second annual Fred Korematsu Day, an official day of special significance passed in the state of California in 2010. Celebrated every January 30, on Korematsu’s birthday, Fred Korematsu Day is the first day in U.S. history named after an Asian American.

The National Portrait Gallery’s “The Struggle for Justice” exhibition opened in 2010 and features many images of individuals who have worked on behalf of civil rights, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Eunice Kennedy Shriver and César Chávez. The museum, which drew in one million visitors last year, is the first museum not specifically focused on the Japanese American experience to include Mr. Korematsu’s story. To date, the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, CA, the Manzanar Interpretive Center in Independence, CA, and the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center in Powell, WY all feature Mr. Korematsu in their exhibits. (For more information about the museums that include Korematsu’s story, click here)

Photo source: University of Alberta

The Korematsu Institute mourns the loss of Gordon Hirabayashi and his former wife, Esther Hirabayashi, who both passed away Monday, January 2, 2012. Gordon Hirabayashi, along with Min Yasui and Fred Korematsu, were three of the four brave individuals who challenged the US incarceration of Japanese Americans before the Supreme Court in the 1940s. Forty years later, these three men re-opened their cases and continued to fight for justice. We remember an American hero today.

For more information about Hirabayashi’s court cases, click here.

Click here for the Korematsu Institute and Asian American Center for Advancing Justice press release about Gordon Hirabayashi’s passing.

Stories of the Japanese “Internment”

A two-part  workshop - FREE

November 9 and 15, 2011  -  4:00 to 6:00 PM

San Joaquin County Office of Education

Featuring Karen Korematsu of the

Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education

For more details, click here.

]]> http://korematsuinstitute.org/2011/11/nov-9-nov-15-san-joaquin-county-office-of-education-korematsu-event/feed/ 0 http://korematsuinstitute.org/2011/11/kis-second-rightsfest-comes-to-a-close/ http://korematsuinstitute.org/2011/11/kis-second-rightsfest-comes-to-a-close/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:45:26 +0000 Korematsu Institute http://korematsuinstitute.org/?p=4013

KI director Ling Woo Liu moderates a panel on Oct. 27 with Laurens Grant, producer of Freedom Riders, Carol Ruth Silver, a former Freedom Rider, and Tadashi Nakamura, director of Pilgrimage

KI’s second annual RightFest civil rights film festival came to a close on October 28 after three nights of films and in-depth panel discussion. For more information about RightsFest 2011, click here.

Click the photo above to find Korematsu lesson plans and activities for your classroom.