James A. "Jim" Corbett (October 8, 1933 – August 2, 2001) was an American rancher, writer,

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

, philosopher, and human rights activist and a co-founder of the

Sanctuary movement The Sanctuary movement was a religious and political campaign in the United States that began in the early 1980s to provide safe haven for Central American refugees fleeing civil conflict. The movement was a response to federal immigration policies ...

. He was born in

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the List of municipalities in Wyoming, second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of th ...

, and died near

Benson, Arizona Benson is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 5,355. It was founded as a rail terminal for the area, and is located approxim ...

Life

The son of a world history teacher and a home economics teacher, Corbett was descended from European-American settlers and Choctaw Indians.''New York Times'' obituary
/ref> He graduated from

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

and got his master's degree in philosophy from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. Jim Corbett married Mary Lynn Shreffler, whom he knew from high school in Casper, Wyoming in 1955 after graduating from Harvard with his M. A. After being stationed at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, Jim Corbett worked for the US Forest Service, herded sheep in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming, and helped his parents with a small ranch they had recently acquired outside Sierra Vista, Arizona. During this time Corbett also attended the University of Washington in Seattle to pursue his Ph.D. in Philosophy for two quarters. Jim Corbett was attending Library School at U.S.C. in Los Angeles when he met his second wife, Patricia Corbett. He subsequently held positions at Cochise College, Chico State, and the John Woolman School. Corbett continued to herd goats and

cows Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

until his death. He did research into

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are ...

and goat

husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. ...

.Seven Obituaries = James Corbett
/ref> He also was librarian and philosophy instructor at

Cochise College Cochise College is a public college in Arizona. Founded on September 21, 1964, the school has campuses in Douglas, Arizona, Douglas and Sierra Vista, Arizona, Sierra Vista, and centers in Benson, Arizona, Benson, Fort Huachuca, and Willcox, Arizo ...

in Arizona. In the early 1960s Jim Corbett became a

and an opponent of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

Sanctuary Movement

In 1981, while living in Arizona, he became aware of

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s fleeing from

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

s in El Salvador and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. They were crossing the border from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

into

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and seeking

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

. At the time, very few of these refugees were receiving protection, as the U.S. government was funding the governments of the countries from which the refugees were fleeing, and immigration judges were instructed by the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

to deny most asylum petitions. Together with other human rights activists including Presbyterian pastor John Fife, Corbett started a small movement in Arizona to assist these people coming across the border, by providing assistance, transportation, and shelter. These activists, under the auspices of

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

es and Quaker

meeting A meeting is when two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal or business setting, but meetings also occur in a variety of other environments. Meetings can be used as form of group decision-making. Definiti ...

s, cited religious precedent of protecting people fleeing persecution, as well as the

Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...

barring countries from deporting refugees back to countries in the middle of civil wars (

non-refoulement Non-refoulement () is a fundamental principle of international law anchored in the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees that forbids a country from deporting (" refoulement") any person to any country in which their "life or freedom woul ...

), to justify their actions. They found support for their work in Quaker meetings (congregations) in Arizona and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, as well as south

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Eventually, other communities in many states, including California,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, and others. This movement, which became known as the

, eventually involved over 500 congregations, and helped hundreds if not thousands of refugees find freedom in the U.S. Corbett and ten others around

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

were arrested for their work, as it violated U.S.

immigration law Immigration law includes the national statutes, Primary and secondary legislation, regulations, and Precedent, legal precedents governing immigration into and deportation from a country. Strictly speaking, it is distinct from other matters such as ...

s. He was eventually acquitted. He continued to assist refugees and to write on various topics of social justice.

Books

Corbett was among the most intellectual of the movement's proponents, and he wrote and published widely on the topic. His two books were ''Goatwalking'' (1991) and ''Sanctuary for All Life'' (posthumously published in 2005).

Environmental activism

Jim Corbett is credited with helping a group of ranchers in southeast Arizona get beyond the long-standing rancor between ranchers and environmentalists and work together to protect open space in the early 1990s.

Notes

References