Fred Korematsu

Asian-American Fred Korematsu (1919-2005) is most remembered for challenging the legality of Japanese internment during World War II. His case, Korematsu v. The United States, is still considered a blemish on the record of the Supreme Court and has received heightened scrutiny given the indefinite confinement of many prisoners after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor, he is considered a leader of the civil rights movement in the United States.

Fred Korematsu was a 22-year-old welder when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. A Nisei--which means an American citizen born to Japanese parents--he was one of four brothers and grew up working in his parents' plant nursery in Oakland, California....