About the JACL

The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is a membership driven national organizations whose mission is to secure and uphold human and civil rights of Americans of Japanese ancestry, as well as others, and to promote and preserve the cultural heritage and values of Japanese Americans.

The Japanese American Citizens League was established in 1929 to fight discrimination against people of Japanese ancestry. The JACL is the largest and oldest Asian American civil rights organizations in the nation.

The JACL has over 24,000 members in 110 chapters located in 25 states, Washington DC, and Japan. The organization operates within a structure of seven District Councils. Its headquarters is in San Francisco, California. A public affairs office is maintained in Washington, DC. Four regional offices (in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles) provide support to Chapters and District Councils. The Pacific Citizen, a newspaper for the JACL network, is located in Los Angeles, California.