Disclaimer: This Website is for an 8th Grade Project
helpers to the cause
Even though I played a fairly significant part in the progression towards the Japanese evacuees' freedom, I was not alone in this battle. There were three other important people who helped me gain that freedom. These people were Mitsuye Endo, Fred Korematsu, and Minoru "Min" Yasui. As I had done, these three individuals went against the exclusion order and had made a name for themselves through their landmark court cases.
Mitsuye Endo v. united statesThe first individual is Mitsuye Endo. She was born on May 10, 1920 in Sacramento, California. Endo was a very private person, so private that even her own daughter did not know of what she had done until she was in her twenties. It started when the California State Personnel Board fired all the employees who were of Japanese descent. Endo was one of the 63 employees who wished to go against this. Along with the help of the JACL (Japanese American Citizens League) and lawyer James C. Purcell, she won her case in the December of 1944. Out of all four of us, she was the only one who actually won her case. This case was very important because it led to the concentration camps closing and the Japanese who were interned there were finally able to return home. Throughout her entire case, she was in confinement in a Topaz, Utah camp.
|
Fred Korematsu V. UNITED STATESThe second individual is Fred Korematsu. He was born on January 30, 1919 in Oakland, California. This man went to great lengths to not be evacuated. He changed his name to Clyde Sarah and even got minor plastic surgery on his eyes to make himself look European American. His efforts unfortunately failed and he was arrested on May 30, 1942. While he was in San Francisco county jail, Ernest Besig (executive director of the American Liberties Union of Northern California) visited him. He asked Korematsu to challenge the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 and Korematsu agreed. His $5,000 bail was paid but he was sent to Tanforan right after he got out. He was found guilty of not following the military orders and in the October of 1944, his case reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Hugo Black delivered the court's opinion: "Korematsu was not excluded from the military area because of hostility to him or his race. He was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese Empire," and "because they decided that the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily." The court had a 6-3 vote against Korematsu. He has really made an impact for on January 30, 2011, California celebrated the first "Fred Korematsu Day." It is the first U.S. holiday to be named after an Asian American.
|
Minoru Yasui V. UNITED STATESThe final individual is Minoru "Min" Yasui. He was born on October 19, 1916 in Hood River, Oregon. He went to the University of Oregon and studied law. He then graduated to be the first Japanese American to ever graduate from Oregon's law school. Being that he studied law, he was especially angered by the unconstitutionality of Executive Order 9066. Yasui wanted to resist and make himself a case so he decided to disobey the curfew. On March 28, 1942, he went out past 8pm, because the curfew was set at 8pm, intending to get himself arrested. He then walked up to an officer and demanded that he be arrested but the officer ignored him. Not giving up, Yasui walked to the nearby police station and again demanded that they arrest him. This time, he was indeed arrested. Even though he put in so much effort, in the end, he still lost in the Supreme Court.
|