A bust of Japanese American civil rights legend Minoru Yasui may be erected and displayed in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building, reports OPB.
Yasui is among a number of people being considered by the state of Oregon to represent the state in the Hall.
He was the first to test the constitutionality of laws targeting Japanese Americans during World War II. Authorities convicted him of breaking curfew, but the federal court eventually overturned that conviction in 1986.
In 1939, Yasui became the first Japanese American to graduate from the University of Oregon School of Law and the first Japanese American member of the Oregon State Bar.
Each state gets to place two busts in Statuary Hall. The ones currently representing Oregon, statues of Dr. John McLoughlin and Rev. Jason Lee, were selected in 1921. The state is now considering replacing those statues and bringing them back to Oregon.
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You can read about some of the other people being considered on OPB.
