James A. Corbett

James A. "Jim" Corbett (October 8, 1933 – August 2, 2001) was an American rancher, writer, Quaker, philosopher, and human rights activist and a co-founder of the Sanctuary movement. He was born in Casper, Wyoming, and died near Benson, Arizona.

Life The son of a world history teacher and a home economics teacher, Corbett was descended from European-American settlers and Choctaw Indians. He graduated from Colgate University and got his master's degree in philosophy from Harvard. 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 until his death. He did research into beekeeping and goat husbandry. He also was librarian and philosophy instructor at Cochise College in Arizona. These activists, under the auspices of churches and Quaker meetings, cited religious precedent of protecting people fleeing persecution, as well as the Geneva Conventions barring countries from deporting refugees back to countries in the middle of civil wars (non-refoulement), to justify their actions. They found support for their work in Quaker meetings (congregations) in Arizona and Chicago, Illinois, as well as south Texas. Eventually, other communities in many states, including California, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and others. This movement, which became known as the Sanctuary movement, 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 were arrested for their work, as it violated U.S. immigration laws. He was eventually acquitted.