Gordon Hirabayashi

Gordon Hirabayashi, a 24-year-old senior at the University of Washington, arrived at the FBI office in Seattle on May 16, 1942, the date that he had been ordered to register for exclusion. He handed the FBI agent a four-page statement that explained why he refused to register. Hirabayashi was raised as a Quaker and trained as a pacifist, and his reasons for refusal stemmed from his religious convictions and pacifism. Hirabayashi was arrested and his case became an important test of the constitutionality of exclusion. In 1986, Hirabayashi's case was reopened and his convictions surrounding the incarceration were vacated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing in part that, "racial bias was the cornerstone of the internment orders."

World War II (231)
Resistance and dissidence (84)
Supreme Court cases (16)
Gordon Hirabayashi (110)

Related articles from the Densho Encyclopedia :
Hirabayashi v. United States, Gordon Hirabayashi

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110 items

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview III Segment 6 (ddr-densho-1000-19-6)

Receiving needed encouragement from parents while taking stand

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-19-6/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview III Segment 5 (ddr-densho-1000-19-5)

Prosecutor subpoenas parents as witnesses, holds them in the King County jail

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-19-5/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview III Segment 1 (ddr-densho-1000-19-1)

Prominent visitors while in jail: Floyd Schmoe and Arthur Barnett

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-19-1/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview III Segment 8 (ddr-densho-1000-19-8)

Translating father's testimony for the court, the verdict, and sentencing: "All this discussion about the Constitution... That's irrelevant."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-19-8/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview V Segment 3 (ddr-densho-1000-115-3)

First meal upon being released in Spokane, Washington

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-115-3/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview V Segment 14 (ddr-densho-1000-115-14)

Continuing the appeal process: case is heard before the United States Supreme Court

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-115-14/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview V Segment 1 (ddr-densho-1000-115-1)

Leaving the King County Jail for Spokane, Washington

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-115-1/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview V Segment 18 (ddr-densho-1000-115-18)

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacates the conviction, but does not overturn the Supreme Court ruling

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-115-18/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview V Segment 15 (ddr-densho-1000-115-15)

Hearing the Supreme Court ruling, feeling disappointed

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-115-15/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview V Segment 2 (ddr-densho-1000-115-2)

Waiting nine months in jail before release arrangements were made by Floyd Schmoe

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-115-2/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview V Segment 17 (ddr-densho-1000-115-17)

Reopening the case by filing for writ of error coram nobis

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-115-17/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview II Segment 13 (ddr-densho-1000-18-13)

Making the decision to defy the curfew

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-18-13/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview II Segment 18 (ddr-densho-1000-18-18)

Pinning hopes on the Supreme Court: "[T]heir main existence is to uphold the Constitution ... How in the world can they uphold [the convictions] against me?"

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-18-18/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview II Segment 17 (ddr-densho-1000-18-17)

Handing oneself over to the FBI, and trying to accommodate a colonel's need to report "100% evacuated"

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-18-17/

vh Gordon Hirabayashi Interview II Segment 16 (ddr-densho-1000-18-16)

Defying the May '42 exclusion order, the last Japanese American in Seattle

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-18-16/

vh Peter Irons Interview II Segment 14 (ddr-densho-1000-127-14)

Volunteering to testify before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians; assembling legal team, contacting Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi and Min Yasui

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-127-14/

vh Peter Irons Interview II Segment 24 (ddr-densho-1000-127-24)

Gordon Hirabayashi's conviction is vacated in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, decision is made to not take the case to the Supreme Court

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-127-24/

vh Peter Irons Interview II Segment 23 (ddr-densho-1000-127-23)

Gordon Hirabayashi's case in Seattle federal court, "a partial victory"

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-127-23/