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Artist
Hanasono Studio
Sitter
Minoru Yasui, 19 Oct 1916 - 12 Nov 1986
Date
1945
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 13.9 × 8.7 cm (5 1/2 × 3 7/16")
Sheet: 15.1 × 9.8 cm (5 15/16 × 3 7/8")
Topic
Interior
Costume\Dress Accessory\Eyeglasses
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie
Minoru Yasui: Male
Minoru Yasui: Law and Crime\Lawyer
Minoru Yasui: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist
Minoru Yasui: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the daughters of Minoru Yasui
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.2016.31
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 law in Portland, Oregon, a judge ruled it unconstitutional if applied to American citizens—but then revoked Yasui’s citizenship. The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated his citizenship on appeal in 1943 but declared the curfew constitutional. Yasui was subsequently imprisoned in several locations, including Idaho’s Minidoka War Relocation Center.
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 the 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 incarcerated.
Nacido en Hood River, Oregón
Minoru Yasui fue una figura clave en el debate sobre la constitucionalidad de las leyes emitidas tras la Orden Ejecutiva 9066 del presidente Franklin D. Roosevelt en 1942, que condujo a la reclusión de miles de japoneses-americanos en la 2a Guerra Mundial. Cuando Yasui desafió un toque de queda en Portland, Oregón, un juez declaró inconstitucional la ley si se aplicaba a ciudadanos de EE.UU., pero revocó la ciudadanía a Yasui. El Tribunal Supremo se la devolvió tras una apelación en 1943, pero declaró constitucional el toque de queda. Yasui estuvo preso en varios lugares, entre ellos el Centro de Reubicación de Guerra de Minidoka.
Liberado en 1944, Yasui ejerció como abogado en casos de derechos civiles. En la década de 1980 presidió el Comité Nacional de Reparación de la Liga de Ciudadanos Japoneses-Americanos, cuya labor fue crucial para la Ley de Libertades Civiles de 1988. Mediante dicha ley, el gobierno de EE.UU. pidió disculpas y emitió pagos a más de 82,000 sobrevivientes de unos 120,000 que habían sido encarcelados.
