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Minoru Yasui

National Portrait Gallery
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Object Details

Artist
Unidentified Artist
Sitter
Minoru Yasui, 19 Oct 1916 - 12 Nov 1986
Exhibition Label
Born Hood River, Oregon
Minoru Yasui was instrumental in testing the constitutionality of laws enacted after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 in 1942, which led to the incarceration of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II. After Yasui challenged a curfew in Portland, Oregon, it was ruled unconstitutional if applied to American citizens. However, the judge in the case then revoked Yasui’s citizenship. The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated his citizenship on appeal in 1943 but declared the curfew constitutional. He was subsequently imprisoned in several locations, including Idaho’s Minidoka Internment Camp.
After being released in 1944, Yasui worked as a civil rights attorney. In the 1980s, he chaired the Japanese American Citizens League’s National Committee for Redress, whose work was crucial to enactment of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. With that act, the U.S. government formally apologized and issued payments to more than 82,000 survivors of the approximately 120,000 people who had been imprisoned.
Nacido en Hood River, Oregón
Minoru Yasui fue fundamental para que se impugnara la constitucionalidad de las leyes que siguieron a la Orden Ejecutiva 9066 de Franklin D. Roosevelt — orden que causó el encarcelamiento de miles de residentes estadounidenses de origen japonés durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial—. Luego de que Yasui desafiara un toque de queda en Portland, Oregón, la orden fue declarada inconstitucional si se aplicaba a ciudadanos estadounidenses. Sin embargo, el juez que presidió el caso procedió a revocar la ciudadanía de Yasui. La decisión se apeló ante el Tribunal Supremo y este le devolvió a Yasui la ciudadanía en 1943, pero declaró constitucional el toque de queda. Posteriormente, Yasui estuvo encarcelado en varios lugares, entre ellos el campo de concentración de Minidoka, Idaho.
Después de ser liberado en 1944, Yasui trabajó como abogado especializado en derechos civiles. En la década de 1980 fue director del Comité Nacional de Reparación de la Liga de Ciudadanos Japoneses-Americanos, cuya labor fue crucial en la promulgación de la Ley de Libertades Civiles de 1988. Mediante dicha ley, el gobierno de Estados Unidos pidió disculpas oficialmente y emitió pagos a más de 82,000 personas, aún vivas a esa fecha, de las 120,000 que habían sido encarceladas.
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift in loving memory of Minoru and True Yasui
1946
Object number
NPG.2016.30
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 24 × 19.3 cm (9 7/16 × 7 5/8")
Sheet: 25.3 × 20.4 cm (9 15/16 × 8 1/16")
See more items in
National Portrait Gallery Collection
National Portrait Gallery
Topic
Interior
Costume\Dress Accessory\Eyeglasses
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie
Minoru Yasui: Male
Minoru Yasui: Law and Law Enforcement\Lawyer
Minoru Yasui: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist
Minoru Yasui: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist
Portrait
Record ID
npg_NPG.2016.30
Metadata Usage (text)
Not determined
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm417a06386-4f86-4351-87e1-8d279780f544

Related Content

  • Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage in the Collections

  • Explore America: Oregon

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