Gordon Hirabayashi
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

was an American sociologist, best known for his principled resistance to the
Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and the court case which bears his name, ''
Hirabayashi v. United States ''Hirabayashi v. United States'', 320 U.S. 81 (1943), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court held that the application of curfews against members of a minority group were constitutional when the nati ...
''.


Early life

Hirabayashi was born in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
to a
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
family who was associated with the Mukyōkai Christian Movement. He graduated from
Auburn Senior High School Auburn High School, formerly Auburn Senior High School, is a public high school in Auburn, Washington, United States, founded in 1903. The school is situated on of land in downtown Auburn. Its campus includes the Auburn Performing Arts Center (PAC ...
in
Auburn, Washington Auburn is a city in King County, Washington, United States (with a small portion crossing into neighboring Pierce County). The population was 87,256 at the 2020 Census. Auburn is a suburb in the Seattle metropolitan area, and is currently rank ...
, and in 1937 went to the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
, where he received his degree. At the University he participated in the
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
and became a religious
pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
.


Resistance to internment, discrimination and war

Although Hirabayashi had originally considered accepting
internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
, he ultimately became one of three to openly defy it. He joined the
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
-run
American Friends Service Committee The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (''Quaker'') founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by Am ...
. In 1942 he turned himself in to the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
, and after being convicted for curfew violation was sentenced to 90 days in prison. He invited prosecution with the intention of challenging the legality of internment in the appellate courts. The
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
initially denied support, which was instead provided by an independent committee organized by Washington State Senator
Mary Farquharson Mary U. Farquharson (née Nichols; April 5, 1901 - September 1, 1982) was an American politician who served as a member of the Washington State Senate from 1935 to 1943. She represented Washington's 46th legislative district as a Democrat. E ...
. When Hirabayashi's case reached the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
the
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
took an active part. One of his lawyers was the Philadelphia Quaker attorney
Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...
. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled against him in ''
Hirabayashi v. United States ''Hirabayashi v. United States'', 320 U.S. 81 (1943), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court held that the application of curfews against members of a minority group were constitutional when the nati ...
'' (1943), albeit with three Justices filing separate opinions that concurred with the Court's decision only with certain reservations. Given wartime exigencies, officials would not transport him to prison or even pay his train fare, so he hitchhiked to the
prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
where he had been ordered to serve his sentence. Once there, wardens stated they lacked the sufficient papers as he was two weeks late. They considered letting him just go home, but he feared this would look suspicious. After that they made the suggestion he could go out for dinner and a movie, which would give them time to find his papers. He agreed to this and, by the time he finished doing so, they had found the relevant paperwork. Hirabayashi later spent a year in federal prison at
McNeil Island Penitentiary The McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC) was a prison in the northwest United States, operated by the Washington State Department of Corrections. It was on McNeil Island in Puget Sound in unincorporated Pierce County, near Steilacoom, Washin ...
for refusing induction into the armed forces, contending that a questionnaire sent to
Japanese Americans are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
demanding renunciation of allegiance to the emperor of Japan was racially discriminatory because other ethnic groups were not asked about adherence to foreign leaders.


Post-war career

After the war, he went on to earn
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
,
M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
and
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
degrees in sociology from the University of Washington. He taught in
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
and
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, before settling at the
University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...
in Canada in 1959, where he served as chair of the sociology department from 1970 until 1975 and continued to teach until his retirement in 1983. As a sociologist he did studies of
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and the
Doukhobors The Doukhobours or Dukhobors (russian: духоборы / духоборцы, dukhobory / dukhobortsy; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are one of many non-Orthodox ethno-confessional faiths in Russia an ...
in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
ian village political awareness,
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
ian social change, and
Asian-Americans Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peoples ...
. He was an active member of Canadian Yearly Meeting of the
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
. After retirement he was active on behalf of
human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
. Hirabayashi died on January 2, 2012, at age 93, in Edmonton, Alberta. He had been diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
11 years earlier.


Conviction overturned

Soon after retiring, Hirabayashi received a call that would prove consequential.
Peter Irons Peter H. Irons (born August 11, 1940) is an American political activist, civil rights attorney, legal scholar, and professor emeritus of political science. He has written many books on the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional litigation. Educ ...
, a political science professor from the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
, had uncovered documents that clearly showed evidence of government misconduct in 1942—evidence that the government knew there was no military reason for the exclusion order but withheld that information from the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. With this new information, Hirabayashi's case was reheard by the federal courts, and in 1987 the
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...
granted a writ of ''
coram nobis A writ of ''coram nobis'' (also writ of error ''coram nobis'', writ of ''coram vobis'', or writ of error ''coram vobis'') is a legal order allowing a court to correct its original judgment upon discovery of a fundamental error that did not appear i ...
'' which overturned his criminal conviction ( ''Hirabayashi v. United States'' (1987)). "It was quite a strong victory—so strong that the other side did not appeal," says Hirabayashi. "It was a vindication of all the effort people had put in for the rights of citizens during crisis periods." "There was a time when I felt that the Constitution failed me," he explains. "But with the reversal in the courts and in public statements from the government, I feel that our country has proven that the Constitution is worth upholding. The U.S. government admitted it made a mistake. A country that can do that is a strong country. I have more faith and allegiance to the Constitution than I ever had before." "I would also say that if you believe in something, if you think the Constitution is a good one, and if you think the Constitution protects you, you better make sure that the Constitution is actively operating... and uh, in other words "constant vigilance". Otherwise, it's a scrap of paper. We had the Constitution to protect us in 1942. It didn't because the will of the people weren't behind it." In 1999, the
Coronado National Forest The Coronado National Forest is a United States National Forest that includes an area of about 1.78 million acres (7,200 km2) spread throughout mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. It is located in parts of C ...
in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
renamed the forme
Catalina Honor Camp
in Hirabayashi's honor. The site, ten miles northeast of
Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...
, where Hirabayashi had served out his sentence of hard labor in 1942, is now known as the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site. In 2008, the University of Washington awarded Hirabayashi and four hundred former students of Japanese ancestry who were evacuated from the school honorary degrees "nunc pro tunc" (retroactively). Although Hirabayashi did not attend the ceremony, when his name was called he received the loudest and longest ovation from the audience. On May 24, 2011, the U.S. Acting Solicitor General,
Neal Katyal Neal Kumar Katyal (born March 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and academic. He is a partner at Hogan Lovells and the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center. During the Obama administrati ...
delivered the keynote speech at the Department of Justice's Great Hall marking Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Developing comments he had posted officially on May 20, Katyal issued the Justice Department's first public confession of its 1942 ethics lapse. He cited the Hirabayashi and Korematsu cases as blots on the reputation of the Office of the Solicitor General – whom the Supreme Court explicitly considers as deserving of "special credence" when arguing cases – and as "an important reminder" of the need for absolute candor in arguing the United States government's position on every case.


Public honors


U.S.D.A. Forest Service memorial

In 1999, the former
Catalina Federal Honor Camp The Catalina Federal Honor Camp, oTucson Federal Prison Camp located in the Santa Catalina Mountains, held men subject to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. It had no security fence, boundaries were marked with stones painted wh ...
near Tucson, Arizona, where Hirabayashi was sentenced to hard labor in the 1940s, was renamed the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site. Located within the
Coronado National Forest The Coronado National Forest is a United States National Forest that includes an area of about 1.78 million acres (7,200 km2) spread throughout mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. It is located in parts of C ...
, the site offers a public campground. A chapter in the fight for Constitutional rights spotlighted at Chicago's Asian Pacific events The United States Immigration & Naturalization Service (USINS) Chicago District Office commemorated Asian Pacific Heritage month with back-to-back observances that presented a first-hand account of the injustices suffered by persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Gordon Hirabayashi, who in 1942 challenged a curfew imposed on persons of Japanese descent, was the keynote speaker for a program on June 4 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The program was repeated the following day in the Ceremonial Courtroom of the US District Court for Northern District of Illinois, Dirksen Federal Building, located next door to the USINS Chicago District Office. The U.S. Constitution is more than a mere piece of paper, Hirabayashi said. Attempts to violate the Constitution's ideals should be taken personally, and opposed firmly. His personal fight to defend constitutional rights in the face of wartime hysteria was described in detail in a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary about his court case. The piece, entitled "A Personal Matter – Gordon Hirabayashi vs. United States", was screened at both programs. Hirabayashi spoke of discrimination that confronted nearly all persons of Asian ancestry in the United States, in the decades leading up to World War II.


California State Legislature

On January 5, 2012, Assembly members Yamada and Furutani were granted
unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a prop ...
in the
California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...
to adjourn in memory of Gordon Hirabayashi.


Presidential Medal of Freedom

On April 27, 2012, President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
announced that Hirabayashi would receive the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...
for his principled stand against Japanese-American internment. The President presented the award posthumously on May 29. It was accepted by his family, who traveled to Washington from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. On February 22, 2014, the medal was formally donated to the University of Washington Library Special Collections, which holds Hirabayashi's papers.


Stage play

In 2007, the
Asian American theatre Asian American theatre is theatre written, directed or acted by Asian Americans. From initial efforts by four theatre companies in the 1960s, Asian-American theatre has grown to around forty groups today. Early productions often had Asian themes ...
company
East West Players East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As the nation's first professional Asian American theatre organization, East West Players continues to produce works and educational programs that give v ...
gave the world premiere of a
stage play A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright. Pla ...
based on Hirabayashi's true life story. The play was a
one-man show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including auto ...
and was titled ''Dawn's Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi''. East West Players described the play as follows: "During WWII in Seattle, University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi agonizes over U.S. government orders to forcibly remove and imprison all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. As he fights to reconcile his country's betrayal with his Constitutional beliefs, Gordon journeys toward a greater understanding of America's triumphs and failures.""Dawn's Light – 42nd Season"

East West Players
Retrieved 30 April 2010.
''Dawn's Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi'' was written by
Jeanne Sakata Jeanne Sakata (born April 8, 1954) is an American film, television and stage actress and playwright. Career Her appearances include supporting roles in episodes of ''Knots Landing'', ''LA Law'', ''Port Charles'', ''Providence'', ''Family Law'', ...
, directed by
Jessica Kubzansky Jessica Kubzansky is an American theatre director and current artistic director of the Boston Court Pasadena Theatre Company. Life and career Kubzansky has directed extensively throughout Southern California and was the 2004 recipient of the Los ...
, and starred actor Ryun Yu as Gordon Hirabayashi and multiple other roles. Performances were held at the East West Player's
David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...
Theatre in Little Tokyo in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Previews were November 1–4, 2007. Opening night was on November 7, 2007 and the play closed on December 2, 2007. The
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
gave it a mixed review: "Ryun Yu plays Hirabayashi... but even his fine-grained tour de force doesn't negate the suspicion that another structure, another style might make this material more exciting." In 2008, playwright
Jeanne Sakata Jeanne Sakata (born April 8, 1954) is an American film, television and stage actress and playwright. Career Her appearances include supporting roles in episodes of ''Knots Landing'', ''LA Law'', ''Port Charles'', ''Providence'', ''Family Law'', ...
adapted her full-length stage play into a shorter theatre-for-youth production, which would tour the schools. Whereas the original one-man show ran approximately 90 minutes, this new abridged version, aimed at students, was about half as long, coming in at about 45 minutes. The tour was produced by East West Players' Theatre For Youth program, directed again by Jessica Kubzansky, and starred actor Martin Yu, who had been the
understudy In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to ap ...
in the original 2007 full-length production. In 2010, East West Players' Theatre For Youth program produced another tour of ''Dawn's Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi''. There were a few revisions to the script, but the play remained approximately 45 minutes. However, there was a new director and cast, not connected to previous productions. It was directed by Leslie Ishii and starred actor Blake Kushi. This marked the first time a Japanese-American director as well as a Japanese-American actor were used. The show was well-received as indicated by the following review: "Kushi gave a one-man, tour-de-force performance that floored the audience..."
Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of app ...
was the major sponsor of this tour of ''Dawn's Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi''. The tour ran from February 12 to March 31, 2010. Shows were performed at elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools (and one city college) and also at community centers, churches, and public libraries. There were 35 performances in total. The tour visited the following California cities:
Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...
,
Baldwin Park Baldwin Park may refer to: * Baldwin Park, California ** Baldwin Park (Metrolink station) in Baldwin Park, California * Baldwin Park, Florida, a neighborhood in Orlando, Florida * Baldwin Park, Missouri * A public park in Baldwin, Nassau County, ...
,
East Rancho Dominguez East Rancho Dominguez, () also known as East Compton, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in southern Los Angeles County, California. The population was 15,135 at the 2010 census, up from 9,286 at the 2000 cen ...
, Fullerton, Gardena,
Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...
,
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, Monterey Park,
North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...
, Norwalk,
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...
, Redlands, Reseda,
San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...
,
San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...
,
Van Nuys Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, t ...
, and
West Covina West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
. In 2011, Ryun Yu reprised his performance of ''Dawn's Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi'', but this time in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
.
Silk Road Theatre Project Silk Road Rising is a theatre company located in downtown Chicago dedicated to presenting plays written by individuals of Asian and Middle Eastern descent. Formerly known as Silk Road Theatre Project, the name was changed in 2011 in order to bett ...
, in association with the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Chicago and Millennium Park, presented the one-man show at the
Jay Pritzker Pavilion Jay Pritzker Pavilion, also known as Pritzker Pavilion or Pritzker Music Pavilion, is a bandshell in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the south side of Randolph Str ...
in
Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center near ...
.Silk Road Theatre Project , Dawn's Light

Silk Road Theatre Project
Retrieved on 5 February 2011.
There were three performances total on January 13–15, 2011. The production was directed by Jessica Kubzansky and produced by Jerry O'Boyle. In 2012, the play was renamed by its author as ''Hold These Truths,'' and prepared by the Epic Theatre Ensemble of New York City for presentation off-Broadway in prototype productions in March. Starring Joel de la Fuente, it was on the Fall schedule to run from October 21 to November 18, 2012.
People's Light and Theatre Company People's Light is a professional, not-for-profit theatre in Chester County, Pennsylvania . About People's Light Founded in 1974, by Dick Keeler, Ken Marini, and Meg and Danny Fruchter, People's Light serves as one of Pennsylvania's largest prof ...
, in
Malvern, Pennsylvania Malvern is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania. It is west of Philadelphia. The population was 3,419 at the 2020 census. The borough is bordered by Paoli Pike on the south, Sugartown Road on the west, Willistown Township on the east, and ...
, staged the play in 2014 as part of its "Community Matters" series, with de la Fuente. In 2014, Ryun Yu performed the role for Seattle's ACT Theatre. Plays & Players Theatre, in Philadelphia, presented it in 2015 with actor Makoto Hirano. In 2016,
Portland Center Stage Portland Center Stage at The Armory is a theater company based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Theater productions are presented at The Armory in Portland's Pearl District. Portland Center Stage at The Armory was founded in 1988 as the nort ...
presented ''Hold These Truths'' in the Ellen Bye Studio with Ryun Yu, who originated the role of Gordon Hirabayashi in the 2007 world premiere (under the title ''Dawn's Light'') at East West Players in Los Angeles. Other productions were mounted in New York City and in Boston in December 2017, in San Diego in November 2019, and in San Francisco in 2021 at the
San Francisco Playhouse San Francisco Playhouse (formerly SF Playhouse) is a non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, founded in 2003 by Bill English and Susi Damilano. The theater stages nine plays yearly, including Broadway plays, musicals, and world ...
.In 2022 People's Light in Malvern PA again presented "Hold These Truths" starring Steven Eng (www.people'slight.org>hold-these-truths) In May of 2022, the first Canadian production of ''Hold These Truths'' was staged in the Second Playing Space at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, directed by Melanie Dreyer-Lude and starring Kevin Takahide Lee as Hirabayashi.


See also

*
List of civil rights leaders Civil rights leaders are influential figures in the promotion and implementation of political freedom and the expansion of personal civil liberties and rights. They work to protect individuals and groups from political repressio ...


References


External links


History Link

Gordon K. Hirabayashi papers, 1934–2012, hosted by Archives West





Short biography (pdf)

Sociology papers
* Segal, Lewis
"Theater Review: One man's losing battle against racism: 'Dawn's Light' addresses racism in times of war, but current events undercut its impact"
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
, 9 November 2007. Retrieved on 30 April 2010. * Chung, Philip W
"Gordon Hirabayashi's Story Sees the Light of Dawn"
AsianWeek ''AsianWeek'' was America's first and largest English language print and on-line publication serving Asian Americans. The news organization played an important role nationally and in the San Francisco Bay Area as the “Voice of Asian America”. ...
, San Francisco, 3 November 2007. Retrieved on 30 April 2010.
Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site History

Materials relating to the case of Gordon K. Hirabayashi, 1943
The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirabayashi, Gordon 1918 births 2012 deaths American expatriate academics American expatriates in Canada American human rights activists American sociologists Canadian Quakers Converts to Quakerism Japanese-American civil rights activists Japanese-American internees American people of Japanese descent University of Washington alumni University of Alberta faculty American Quakers Scientists from Seattle American Christian pacifists People from Auburn, Washington Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients