by Shannon Kelly ’26 on March 19, 2026
News
On Wednesday, March 4, founder and president of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, Dr. Karen Korematsu, gave a talk in the Ruane Center for the Humanities room LL05 titled, “Of Civil Rights and Wrongs: The Fred Korematsu Story.” The Fred T. Korematsu Institute “promotes civic participation and education that advances racial equality, social justice, and human rights for all.” The talk centered the life of late civil rights icon Fred Korematsu, explored concepts of freedom, and questioned how our nation’s understanding of who has been deemed American throughout history has changed. Fred Korematsu’s legacy was built upon his refusal to go to government-created Japanese American internment camps during World War II, his arrest, Supreme Court case, and continued activism throughout the remainder of his life. Korematsu prefaced the talk by asking the audience to consider the current societal atmosphere that we are living in and stated that she has “worry that people do not understand our history.”
Korematsu explained her father to have been deemed “the odd man out” in society, which largely set the tone for the remainder of the talk. She explained that her father was born in Oakland, CA and thought of himself as an American. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor at the hands of Imperial Japan in 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans to leave the West Coast, pulled Japanese American children out of hospitals, and spared no one from the inhumane conditions that defined the experience of interned individuals. Korematsu highlighted the resistance shown during this time and specifically talked about the efforts of Ernest Besig and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, who sought to challenge the unconstitutionality of the executive order. While Fred Korematsu was in jail, Besig visited him and offered the support of the ACLU in his fight. Korematsu stated that our collective trust in the constitution rests “not just on a piece of paper,” expressing that “this is about us.”
When discussing society today, Korematsu talked a lot about the fear that permeates our country. She stated that “people are afraid of teaching certain parts of history across the United States.” She also mentioned that she believes public schools have failed to adequately teach our nation’s history and said that history is currently being repeated in society, largely at the hands of the current administration.
Korematsu v. United States is one of the most well-known Supreme Court cases. In 1944, the ruling upheld the exclusion of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast military area during World War II, which led to the internment of Japanese Americans. On the basis of coram nobis, Fred Korematsu’s criminal conviction was vacated in 1984. Fred Korematsu’s efforts highlight the significance of fighting the good fight, the need to share stories that reflect one’s experiences in our world, and the power that rests in both advocacy and activism. In her talk, Korematsu reflected on the point that history encourages solidarity and that it is on us to know what is going on in our world. Fred Korematsu was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 by President Bill Clinton. Fred Korematsu Day is recognized in states including Hawaii, California, Michigan, New Jersey, Florida, Arizona, and Virginia, as well as New York City.
Throughout her talk, Korematsu emphasized that her father’s story is “one of moral principle” and emphasized the need, as quoted by her dad, that told people, “Don’t be afraid to speak up and stand up for what is right.” Korematsu ended the talk by stating that she is looking to students like those at Providence College “to be pebbles in a pond and share your personal stories.” She included that, “We all have the ability to speak up and if we don’t, we’re in trouble.”