Sam Mihara Receives Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice
Sam Mihara was honored with the 2023 Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice at a ceremony at The House of the Seven Gables in November. Voices Against Injustice granted the award to Mihara for his work speaking around the country about the Japanese American incarceration during World War II and his dedication to preventing similar modern day human rights abuses. The organization presented Sam with a check, which he donated to the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. He also received certificates from the Massachusetts House and the Massachusetts Senate, as well as a watercolor of the Salem Witch Trials Memorial site.

Voices Against Injustice is a non-profit organization that promotes awareness of human rights and social injustice to keep alive the lessons of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. During the trials, 20 people were falsely accused of witchcraft and executed and at least 150 individuals were imprisoned.

Summary: In 1942, when Sam Mihara was 9 years old, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. Shortly after, Sam and his family were forced from their San Francisco home by armed military guards and sent to the Heart Mountain prison camp in Wyoming. The government decided to remove all people of Japanese ancestry and place them into desolate prison camps. They would live crowded into a single 20 x 20 square foot room for the next 3 years.

He was one of 120,000 Japanese Americans who was forced by armed military soldiers to move. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed “Executive Order 9066” on February 19, 1942, which authorized the military to remove Japanese Americans from their homes and move them to prison camps.

Today, at 90-years-young, Sam is the only camp survivor who tours nationally and internationally speaking about this dark time in our history. Over 90,000 people have heard Sam’s story detailing the difficulties he, his family and other Japanese Americans faced before, during and after the imprisonment.

News and Information

Japanese American of the Biennium
The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2022 Japanese American of the Biennium Award for Education and Humanities is Sam Mihara.

Mihara has made an indelible impact on educational and legal communities worldwide by teaching about the contemporary relevance of Japanese American experiences during World War II. He helps audiences understand the human costs of incarceration through recounting his own experiences as a Heart Mountain survivor.

Over the last 10 years, Mihara has delivered over 400 presentations, reaching a staggering 90,000 individuals. His audiences include school children, college students, educators, corporate leaders, lawmakers, and more. Reviews are uniformly excellent as he engages with firsthand stories that resonate across varied demographics. Moreover, he donates 100% of his speaking fees to projects that will enable others to continue telling the story.

New Video for Schools
I just returned from Chicago where I filmed a new video for the Encyclopedia Britannica (EB) Corp. The video will be designed for schools at various grade levels. It will be translated into many languages and made available throughout the world. The total number of EB readers and viewers is in the hundreds of millions.

New Edition of Book Now Available – Sam Mihara was 9 years old when the U.S. government imprisoned him and his family in desolate Northern Wyoming. Three years in government custody would change his life forever. Filled with grief, loss, and hope, his story is for readers who want to learn more about America’s forgotten mistakes and discover how to prevent future tragedies like Japanese internment during World War II.

In the newly published 3rd edition of the book, Blindsided, The Life and Times of Sam Mihara, Sam reveals more details. The additions include life before entering the prison camps, life in the first camp called “Pomona”. Also, an event at Pomona is described where his mother was almost shot. Details of daily life in the Wyoming prison camp are revealed. While in prison, Sam tells of how he was inspired to become an engineer. And he describes how he discovered important photos of the imprisonment by photographer Dorothea Lange.

New Format Presentations – Using Skype and Zoom technologies, a virtual format for presentations is offered. With current screen sharing and internet capabilities, a presentation can be made to individuals, groups, and classrooms and still maintain the personal style of communicating directly with the audience. By not requiring travel, the lower cost makes direct presentations more affordable for all who have internet and desktop capabilities. Please ask for details.

Future Engagements – New engagements are beginning to fill for the rest of this year. If you or your group would like to reserve a spot, please contact Sam Mihara as soon as possible and indicate your group description, location, and preferred dates.

Appointments

2024

Jan 30 – Chicago IL – Perkins Cole LLP (Tentative)
Feb 3 – Los Angeles CA – Japanese American National Museum
Mar 8 – Cleveland OH – National History Teachers Conference
Mar 18 to 22 – Washington DC – Congress and DC area schools
Apr 3 – New York City NY – The Dalton School
Apr 26 to 27 – Los Angeles CA – Heart Mountain WY Foundation
May – National Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPIH) Month
May 22 – Moab UT – Moab History Museum
Jun 17 – Heart Mountain Wyoming – NEH Teachers’ Workshop 1
Jun 24 – Heart Mountain Wyoming – NEH Teachers’ Workshop 2
Jul 25 to 28 – Heart Mountain Wyoming – Annual Pilgrimage and Grand Opening of The Mineta Simpson Institute.

NOTE: Most travel involve change of planes in Denver, which provides access to locations in the Mountain States

Recent Feedback
Recent feedback about Sam’s presentation has been overwhelmingly positive. Hundreds of attorneys from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Law Firm attended a 2021 speech and 99% of them thought the program was excellent or very good. Here is what two attendees had to say:

“Mihara is an eloquent speaker with a gift for connecting with the audience with personal and relatable stories. His visual aids are excellent and add to the sentiment and history.”

“It was a very thought-provoking and heartfelt presentation. I could have listened to his stories all day.”

Visit the Reactions page to read more feedback.