Dr. Karen Korematsu's
Closing Keynote

Join us for our closing Keynote Address, delivered by Dr. Karen Korematsu on Saturday, March 1 at 4:20 pm.  

Dr. Karen Korematsu is the Founder and President of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute and the daughter of the late civil rights icon, Fred Korematsu. Since her father’s passing in 2005, Karen has carried on his legacy as a national public speaker and educator. She travels the country advocating for civil liberties, social justice, civics, and ethnic studies education. She promotes Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution on January 30 in perpetuity for all fifty states. 

With a deep commitment to education, Dr. Korematsu has presented to educators and students at K-12 schools, colleges, universities, law schools, national and state conferences, and organizations of various types and sizes. She is a member of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and an Honored Member of the Council of State Social Studies Specialists (CS4). In June of 2021, she was appointed to serve as a State of California Education Ambassador by State Superintendent, Tony Thurmond. She helped to establish the ethnic studies high school graduation requirement in the state and continues to advocate for the same nationwide.  

Dr. Korematsu has been interviewed on radio, podcasts, and TV. Her op-eds have appeared in the NY Times and Washington Post and she has signed on to amicus briefs in several cases opposing violations of constitutional rights arising after 9/11. She has received numerous awards and honors, including the ACLU-Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award, the GMNY 2015 Isadore Starr Award, the NAPABA Presidents Award, the Muslim Advocates-Voice of Freedom Award, and the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) Community Leadership Award. 

Karen is the first honorary non-lawyer member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), serves on the board of directors of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC and serves on the National Advisory Board of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law. She received her first honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from St. Michael’s College in Burlington, Vermont, in May 2019. She received her second honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Haverford College in Pennsylvania, in May 2022.