In our last post, we featured the beginning of the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast in April 1942. This week, we focus on the end:
In 1944, Mitsuye Endo, a prisoner at Topaz, Utah, challenged the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans, refusing an offer of early release from camp so that her case could be heard in federal courts. In December 1944 the Supreme Court ruled on Ex parte Endo, declaring unanimously that loyal Japanese Americans could not be incarcerated without cause. The U.S. government announced that all camps would be closed within a year (although Tule Lake did not close until March 1946).
The coram nobis lawyers who represented Fred Korematsu, Minoru Yasui and Gordon Hirabayashi (three Japanese American men who defied the forced removal) are behind this effort to seek recognition for Endo. Korematsu, Yasui and Hirabayashi have all been awarded the Medal of Freedom. Yet Mitsuye Endo, whose case succeeded in ending the incarceration, never did.
Sign a petition to recognize Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi’s bravery with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Or scan the QR code to sign the petition urging President Biden to posthumously recognize Endo with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Topaz Stories Team
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Media Coverage:
Read Internee’s story told with ‘Topaz Collages’ (Wheel of Dharma, Vol. 5, Issue 3, March 2023).
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)