Hong Yen Chang

Hong Yen Chang (Alternate names and variant spellings: Chang Hon Yen, Zhang Kangren, Kang Jen Chang, Chang Kang-jen, Chang Hong Yin, and Harry Chang.) - August 4, 1926) was reportedly the first Chinese immigrant licensed to practice law in the United States. Though admitted to the New York State Bar, he was denied admission to the California State Bar in 1890. He remained a prominent member of the Chinese community and went on to lead a distinguished career in banking and diplomacy.

Early life Chang was born in 1860, in what is now Guangdong, China (though records from Yale list his birth date as December 20, 1859).

Chinese Educational Mission In 1872, Chang was selected to travel to the United States as part of the Chinese Educational Mission. Chang attended Hartford Public High School in Connecticut from 1876 to 1878.

In 1879, Chang began studies at Yale College (now Yale University).

Legal studies and career

Hong Yen Chang did not remain in China for long, though. He returned to the United States on his own accord and began studies at Columbia Law School in 1883. He graduated with honors from Columbia Law School in 1886.

At the time of Hong Yen Chang's graduation, the New York State Bar required applicants to be United States citizens. ) However, the New York State Legislature passed an act that allowed Hong Yen Chang to apply again to the bar. The act, "An Act for the relief of Hong Yen Chang," reads:

Section 1. The General Term of the first department of the supreme court of this State is hereby authorized to waive the alienage of Hong Yen Chang, a native of China, but now a resident of the city, county and State of New York, and to regularly admit and license him to the practice as an attorney and counselor at law in all the courts of this State, on his passing in a satisfactory manner the usual examination for the admission of attorneys and counselors.

The New York Supreme Court, General Term admitted Chang to the New York State Bar on May 17, 1888.

In re Hong Yen Chang

Soon after Chang's admission to the New York State Bar, Chang moved West to California and sought admission to the California State Bar. In support of his eligibility to practice law in California, Chang submitted his license to practice law in New York and "a certificate of naturalization, issued by the court of common pleas of the city of New York, November 11, 1887."

t is past time to acknowledge that the discriminatory exclusion of Chang from the State Bar of California was a grievous wrong. It denied Chang equal protection of the laws; apart from his citizenship, he was by all accounts qualified for admission to the bar. 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. And it was a loss to our communities and to society as a whole, which denied itself the full talents of its people and the important benefits of a diverse legal profession. More than a century later, Chang's descendants and the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association at the University of California, Davis School of Law have sought to right this wrong. 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 people and the courts of California were denied Chang's services as a lawyer. But we need not be denied his example as a pioneer for a more inclusive legal profession. In granting Chang posthumous admission to the California Bar, we affirm his rightful place among the ranks of persons deemed qualified to serve as an attorney and counselor at law in the courts of California.

Later life Chang married Charlotte Ah Tye on March 14, 1897, in San Francisco. He then worked for the Yokohama Specie Bank of Japan in San Francisco. (Another source, however, notes that Hong Yen Chang taught at Tientsin University. The Chinese government awarded him a doctorate of law for his services. His great-grandniece, Rachelle B. Chong, was the first Asian-American to serve as a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).