Who We Are:
The Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties is a unique educational center, community space, and art museum that provides a space for dialogue concerning historical and contemporary social justice issues. The Center is part of the Riverside Community College District, and we provide a wide range of free programming such as art workshops, poetry readings, book discussions, and author talks to the community.

The Second-Floor gallery and archive room of the historic 10,000 Sq. Ft. building are dedicated to Japanese American woman artist and Riverside City College Alumna, Miné Okubo (1912-2001). 

Okubo created art, before, during and after her incarceration along with thousands of other people of Japanese descent during World War II. Upon her death in 2001, Okubo bequeathed thousands of paintings, letters, personal papers, and memorabilia to Riverside Community College. 

Visitors can view a dazzling array of her paintings through Miné Okubo’s Eyes: A Life in Colors, an exhibition curated in 2024 by Dr. Shi Pu Wang.

About the Archive Room:
Special storage and archive areas have been established to attract scholars, graduate students, writers, and other professionals interested in studying The Miné Okubo Collection. 

Only a fraction of the artwork can be displayed at any time, so these archives are critical to gaining a greater understanding of the Collection’s scope and importance. The storage and archive areas, designed by Balboa Art Conservation Center, feature storage racks for paintings, flat files for works on paper, and shelving for protective document files and other containers.

To support research, the Center provides an office and conference space for visiting experts and scholars. Please e-mail us ahead of time if you are interested in visiting or receiving materials from the archive room. We will send you a form to fill out in order to better facilitate your visit. We welcome visitors and group tours, too! 

The Center is free and open to the public.For more information about visiting the Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties in Riverside, CA visit our website at https://socialjustice.rccd.edu .