DR. KAREN KOREMATSU
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT
Dr. Karen Korematsu is the Founder and President of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute and the daughter of the late civil rights icon, Fred Korematsu. Karen is a national speaker and travels the country advocating for civil liberties, social justice, civics, and ethnic studies education. She promotes Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution on January 30 in perpetuity for all fifty states. Karen has signed on to several amicus briefs opposing violations of constitutional rights.
Dr. Korematsu has been interviewed on radio, podcasts, and TV. Her Op/Ed’s have appeared in the NY Times and Washington Post. She has received numerous awards and honors including the ACLU- Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award, the GMNY 2015 Isadore Starr Award, the NAPABA Presidents Award, the Muslim Advocates-Voice of Freedom Award, and the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) Community Leadership Award. In addition, she is a recipient of the Key to the City of Dearborn, Michigan by the Mayor of Dearborn in 2017.
Karen is a member of National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and an Honored Member of the Council of State Social Studies Specialists (CS4). Karen is the first honorary non-lawyer member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), serves on the board of directors of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC, DC and the NAPABA Law Foundation (NLF). She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law.
In June of 2021, Dr. Korematsu was appointed to serve as a State of California Education Ambassador by State Superintendent, Tony Thurmond. She helped to achieve ethnic studies course as a high school graduation requirement and continues to advocate for the same in every state across this country.
Karen received her first honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from St. Michael’s College in Burlington, Vermont, May 2019. She received her second honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Haverford College in Pennsylvania, May 2022.
By invitation: University of CA, Berkeley, School of Law for CA Law Review- Published essay: Karen Korematsu, L.H.D., Carrying on Korematsu: Reflections on my Father’s Legacy, WOMEN & LAW, page 95, (2020) (joint publication of the top sixteen law reviews)
COURTNEY PEAGLER
VICE PRESIDENT AND
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
A hapa-yonsei descendant of Japanese Americans forced to leave the West Coast, Courtney is committed to ensuring the shameful history of the WWII incarceration is not forgotten and that its lessons are applied to the fight for social justice for all.
She is an active board member for Daruma No Gakko, a summer program designed for elementary and middle school students to learn about Japanese American heritage, and is on the Council of Friends of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
Previously, Courtney was on the executive management team at a New York-based education technology company and worked in various for-profit and non-profit organizations. She has been designing and facilitating learning experiences for adults in a variety of professions for over a decade.
Her prior experience also includes the evaluation of emerging technologies for education, assisting educators in their use of technology, website design and development, and media production. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Harvard and her MA in Educational Communication and Technology from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education.
SHARON SENZAKI
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Sharon has enjoyed working as an administrative professional in the nonprofit sector and is especially proud to be a part of the Korematsu Institute because of its educational and leadership role in advancing social justice and civil rights. Her interest is also very personal due to her family’s history of being forcibly removed from California and incarcerated at the Heart Mountain Incarceration Camp in Wyoming because of Executive Order 9066 during WWII.She has been involved, for many years, in supporting social justice, health, and community arts causes. For thirteen years she was Office Manager/Human Resources Administrator for AAPIP (Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy). Previous to that, she was the Human Resources and Volunteer Coordinator for API Wellness Center (now San Francisco Community Health Center). Sharon was also the office manager and assistant for two private health offices in San Francisco. Additionally, she has had a long-time involvement in the Asian community through arts and other programs.
MICHELLE MITCHELL
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Michelle has been a nonprofit director and event producer in the Bay Area for more than 20 years. She has a background in the arts and dramaturgy, and has managed communications and development, built cross-functional teams, and developed a variety of campaigns and marketing materials for special events, galas, and launches. Working with Bay Area organizations such SF Sketchfest; Speechless, Inc.; the California College of the Arts; the Z Space Studio; the Craftsmanship Initiative, and now the Korematsu Institute, Michelle has focused on supporting organizations that are making our big blue marble in space a little bit better, smarter, or funnier.
With all of the change in the world, Michelle is pleased to join the team at the Korematsu Institute to help support their mission to “stand up for what is right”.
NATALIE MILLER
INTERN
Natalie is a high school senior passionate about telling the stories of underrepresented groups throughout history. She is involved in historical research through the program National History Day, where she earned third place nationally for her paper, “Ex parte Mitsuye Endo: Breaking Through Barbed Wire.” Visiting Manzanar and interacting with other primary source materials solidified her commitment to ensuring that the shameful history of Japanese-American incarceration is never repeated.
With the Korematsu Institute, she is working to develop a video series targeted at students featuring lesser-known advocates throughout history. The series intends to further the mission of the Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution by exploring the meaning of advocacy and providing practical tips related to the subject.