A cultural group in Augusta is recognized by the Georgia Historical Society as the oldest registered Chinese organization in the state.
A new historical plaque honoring the Augusta Chinese and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association will be dedicated Friday at 11 a.m. in front of the CCBA’s headquarters at 548 Walker St. Local Chinese immigrants formed the organization in 1920 and established it in 1927.
The Chinese community in Augusta is considered one of the oldest in the eastern United States.
“In the decades that followed, the Chinese population continued to grow, and Augusta had the largest Chinese population in the state until immigration resumed in the 1960s and a flood of skilled workers moved to Atlanta,” said Gary Tom, President of the CCBA.
Augusta eats:New Poké Place bowls via customers on Washington Road
Augusta eats:The Chinese restaurant offers loyal guests something old and something new
Most of the first Chinese immigrants to make Augusta their home arrived from San Francisco in late 1873 and were hired as labor by Augusta Canal contractors to expand sections of the waterway, originally built in 1845.
A brief editorial in the Augusta Chronicle, November 14, 1873, first expressed optimism that an increase in the Chinese labor force might be a response to the revival of southern rice plantations, which had never fully recovered from the civil war.
At the national level, absorption of cheap and growing Chinese labor has been cooler. The federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese from entering the United States, but the law granted exceptions to traders. Soon, the immigrants who chose to stay in America started small businesses to earn an income and enough money to send to China to bring their relatives to China, officially to provide labor in the new businesses .
In 1885, white Augusta merchants unsuccessfully petitioned city officials to ban Chinese residents from acquiring business licenses. In the 1950s, Tom said, Augusta had more than 70 Chinese grocery stores at its peak.
A local incident in November 1919 may have been one of the triggers for the creation of the CCBA. A traveling fair rolled into town with an exhibit called “Underground Chinatown,” which portrayed Chinese as opium dealers, “who entice Americans into drug use and as a threat to this country’s civilization, while the honesty and general sincerity of the Chinese in America, ‘We submit , extremely exemplary,” read a public statement from prominent Chinese merchants, including Tom’s great-uncle Sam Lee Jue.
Three days later, the fair operators closed the Chinatown exhibition. Two months later, in February 1920, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association held its first meeting. In 1939, the CCBA moved to its current home after purchasing a church that once housed St Matthew’s German Lutheran Church.
For decades, the building has served as a venue for meetings, social gatherings, and cultural events. Most area residents may see the group members most clearly during the city’s annual Arts in the Heart festival, which showcases food, dance, costumes and customs from other countries.
Although the group is still active today, membership is declining. Tom estimates that around 150 people from 50 or 60 families belong to the CCBA today.
“I grew up down here when I was a little boy,” said Tom, sitting next to the CCBA’s original framed charter. Growing up in Augusta in the 1950s, he was among a core group of 30 to 40 children who regularly attended the CCBA for a variety of activities. Today he estimates that there are only 10 to 15 children left.
“I hate to say it, but we’re sort of a slowly dying organization,” said Tom. “Children go to school, move away, find jobs and don’t come back to Augusta. We just have to get young blood.”
