Sam Mihara, who was incarcerated at Heart Mountain as a child, received the Salem Award for Human Rights and Justice from the House of Seven Gables Settlement House in Salem, Massachusetts, on Nov. 10.
The award was granted in recognition of Mihara’s work to educate Americans about the Japanese American incarceration during World War II and to prevent similar human rights abuses from happening again.
During his family’s incarceration, Mihara’s father went blind because he was denied access to his doctor in California and his grandfather died of mistreated cancer. Mihara tells these stories in his book, Blindsided.
Mihara is a member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation board.