“Remembering my Father Fred T. Korematsu and Furthering His Civil Liberties Legacy”

Karen Korematsu is the Founder and Director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute. She and the Institute are devoted to furthering the memory of Fred Korematsu, the case Korematsu v. the United States, a case said to be a “civil liberties disaster”, and for advancing civil rights and civil liberties, equity and justice.

Fred T. Korematsu was one of many American citizens of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated during World War II. He is famous for his defying the government’s order to report to an assembly center. Fred Korematsu appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him in 1944. Years later, his conviction was vacated by the U.S. District Court of Northern California. Fred’s courage and activism were recognized by his receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton in 1998. Fred T. Korematsu is the first Asian American honored by a state for a day in his name.