The Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education advances the cause of pan-ethnic civil rights and human rights, in a post-9/11 context, through alliances and programs that focus on education, activism and leadership.

In 1942, Fred Korematsu had the courage to take an unpopular stand for racial justice by resisting the internment of 120,000 Japanese-American citizens during World War II. He was denied his freedom by the nation’s highest court, which validated the wholesale imprisonment of Japanese- American citizens on the basis of “military necessity.”

In 1983, the Asian Law Caucus was a key member of the legal team that vindicated Fred’s refusal to obey the racially discriminatory internment orders. Judge Marilyn Patel of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco overturned the 1942 conviction in response to a writ of coram nobis (correcting a judgment on the grounds of factual error). Fred’s forty-year struggle for justice is a constant reminder that Asian Americans and other communities of color in America cannot take their civil rights for granted.

The Asian Law Caucus launched the Korematsu Institute on April 30, 2009 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the reversal of Korematsu’s conviction (read more about our launch here).