Chinese lawyer who was banned from working in California because of the 1882 'Chinese Exclusion Act' is finally granted a license - 89 years after his death

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A talented Chinese lawyer who was banned from working in California because of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act has been finally granted a license, 89 years after his death.

'It was also a blow to countless others who, like Chang, aspired to become a lawyer only to have their dream deferred on account of their race, alienage, or nationality,' the unanimous court decision reads. 

'It is past time to acknowledge that the discriminatory exclusion of Chang from the State Bar of California was a grievous wrong.'  

Struggle: Hong Yen Chang, from Guangdong Province, China, travelled to the U.S. in 1872 when he was 12 years old. He studied law at Colombia, graduating in 1886 with 'high markings from the examiners'. But he was banned from practising in California as he was 'a person of Mongolian nativity'

Defiant: In later life, Hong served as a banker and a diplomat, and was awarded a doctorate of law by the Chinese government. But he was never granted a license to practise law in California

Hong Yen Chang, from Xiangshan, Guangdong Province, was chosen to travel to the U.S. in 1872 when he was 12 years old, as part of a Chinese Educational Mission.

He studied law at Yale and Colombia, from where he graduated in 1886 with 'high markings from the examiners'.

However, for the rest of his life he faced a struggle to practise law, as under 19th Century legislation 'a person of Mongolian nativity' would not be accepted to the bar.

In 1888, after long deliberations, New York State passed An Act for the Relief of Hong Yen Chang, which waived the Chinese Exclusion Act in the state, allowing him to receive a license to practise law in New York.

But the Californian authorities said that they did not recognise the New York ruling, leaving Hong unable to work there.

On Monday, the California Supreme Court granted a posthumous law license to Hong, known as America's first Chinese-born lawyer.

This came in response to petitions made by Hong's descendants, as well as the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) at the University of California.

'Even if we cannot undo history, we can acknowledge it and, in so doing, accord a full measure of recognition to Chang's pathbreaking efforts to become the first lawyer of Chinese descent in the United States,' the court said in its unanimous ruling. 

'More than a century later, the legal and policy underpinnings of our 1890 decision have been discredited.'

The California high court blamed hostility toward Chinese, cultural tensions and xenophobia for Hong's plight, as well as a range of state laws designed 'to disadvantage Chinese immigrants' who moved to California with other immigrants following the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s.

In later life, Hong served as a banker and a diplomat, and was awarded a doctorate of law by the Chinese government.

He was Director of Chinese naval students at Berkeley, California, until his retirement in 1920. He died in 1926, after which his family began the fight to have him recognised in the state.

Hong's grand-niece, Rachelle Chong, is also a lawyer. She made history as the first Asian-American to be appointed to the Federal Communications Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission.

Three of Hong's other descendants are lawyers. 

'We are absolutely thrilled with the ruling,' said Chong. The longstanding injustice, she said had been a sore spot among Hong's extended family for decades.