We are proud to have Sam Mihara speak at the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center from 7:30p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on August 8 as part of our Museum After Dark series.
When he was just 9 years old, Sam and his family were forcibly moved from their home in San Francisco to the Heart Mountain, Wyoming prison camp following the outbreak of WWII. They were placed in a 20 by 20-foot barrack, where they lived for the next 3 years, much like many of the other U.S.-born American citizens of Japanese descent. Sam’s family were part of the 120,000 West Coast residents spread across 10 camps in the United States.
After the war ended, the Mihara family returned home to San Francisco, where Sam attended high school, then enrolled in U.C. Berkeley and later UCLA, earning his undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering. He used those degrees to become an executive on space programs for the Boeing Company until his retirement.
Upon retiring, Sam would use his experiences to become a speaker and educate the public on the mass injustice in the U.S. His public speaking has taken him to many federal prisons and immigrant detention facilities, along with schools, libraries, the U.S. DoJ, Congress, and other various organizations across the U.S., Asia, and Europe where he has given over 450 speeches. He also assists in the preservation of the Heart Mountain historic prison site where he spent 3 years of his young life. He has been a board member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation since 2014 and is a member of the Japanese American Citizens League, SELANOCO ( South East Los Angeles and North Orange County) Chapter.
In 2018, Sam became the first Japanese American to be awarded the Paul Gagnon Prize. In 2022, he received the The Biennium Award for Education from the Japanese American Citizens League.
Sam Mihara’s presentation will be featured in conjunction with the Resilience: A Sansei Sense of Legacy exhibit that will be on display in the J.E. & L.E. Mabee Foundation Gallery from July 1 – September 8.
The cost for this Museum After Dark event is the regular cost of admission.
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