Of Civil Wrongs & Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story

The video added life to my lesson about the Internment of Japanese Americans. My students were excited to learn that a bold and courageous man like Korematsu graduated from a school where their friends and family attended. Because of this, they felt a connection with Korematsu and others who were interned.

This is an excellent film that shows the difficult plight of the Japanese American citizens during World War II. The interviews are excellent and the story line is concise and captivating. I loved this documentary and would highly recommend it. Of particular interest is the director Eric Fournier's narrative structure of the film. The film seamlessly fades from present to past and back to present again. On the political message of the film, much has changed in the years since World War II; but that it took Fred Koramatsu nearly 50 years to receive his moral, political and legal vindication from the United States Government that had imprisoned him because of his ancestry during the great World War says much about our society then as well as today.

OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS wins two Emmys! Broadcast during the 2001 season of P.O.V., Eric Paul Fournier's OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS won Emmys at the 23rd Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards: Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft — Direction and Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft — Editing.

Fred Korematsu was probably never more American than when he resisted, and then challenged in court, the forced internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his landmark Supreme Court case in 1944, but never his indignation and resolve. OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS is the untold history of the 40-year legal fight to vindicate Korematsu — one that finally turned a civil injustice into a civil rights victory.