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Sam Mihara, Class of '51, Honored by the National Endowment for the Humanities

We are thrilled to congratulate Sam Mihara ‘51 who has been selected to give the 2024 Jefferson Lecture in Humanities. The Jefferson Lecture, established by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1972, is the highest honor the federal government bestows upon someone for their intellectual achievement in the humanities. Previous award recipients include Toni Morrison, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Wendell Berry, Erik Erikson, and Gwendolyn Brooks, among others. Mihara, a second-generation Japanese American and born and raised in San Francisco, is the first Japanese American to be selected for this prestigious award. 

At the age of nine, Mihara was forced to move to the Heart Mountain War Relocation Camp in Wyoming, a prison camp for Japanese Americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the onset of World War II. For over three years, Mihara and his family were held captive against their will. When Mihara was finally able to move home to San Francisco, he was able to go back to school and ultimately became a rocket scientist which he pursued for over forty years. Upon retirement, Mihara chose to become a public educator regarding the Japanese American prison camps and has since spoken to over 120,000 students across the US, Asia, and Europe, including students at his alma mater, Lick-Wilmerding High School. He has earned numerous awards and has lectured at a myriad of colleges and organizations including Harvard, Columbia, U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Department of Justice. 

For those interested in watching the lecture, there will be a livestream on neh.gov, otherwise tickets can be reserved free of charge. Our sincerest congratulations to Sam Mihara on this superb recognition of his achievement!

Please note: due to the L.A. fires, the lecture, originally scheduled for January 15, 2025 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, will be rescheduled for a future date to be determined. We will update this post when we have a confirmed date.

Sam Mihara, Class of '51, Honored by the National Endowment for the Humanities

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