Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of Augusta, GA

One of the Southeast's oldest Asian organizations, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) of Augusta, Ga., was chartered in 1927. We are a non-profit, non-political organization whose mission is to provide fellowship for our members and to promote public awareness of our Chinese culture and heritage.

Our activities include monthly dinners; Chinese New Year and other celebrations; Chinese school; a Chinese Women's Club; specialty classes focusing on cooking, Chinese calligraphy and more; participation in Goodwill's annual Dragon Boat Festival and the Arts in the Heart of Augusta; and much more.

MEMBERSHIP
The CCBA is open to anyone interested in Chinese culture and fellowship. Interested persons must contact an officer or Board Member and submit an application for membership. Officers and Board Members will review applications at the bimonthly Board Meetings and notify applicants of membership approval or disapproval.

The CCBA calendar year begins each October at the Fall Festival Dinner. Membership dues are payable at that time. The following fee schedule applies:

Families with children $90

Couples (no children) $75

Singles $50

Note: At our formal dinners (Fall Festival and Chinese New Year) and picnic, there is a $10 per guest fee for members who bring guests.

HISTORY
The history of the Chinese in Augusta began in 1873 when an Indianapolis construction company contracted about 200 Chinese laborers to widen and deepen the Augusta Canal. After the project’s completion in 1875, most of these men drifted off to work elsewhere, but a few remained in Augusta and opened grocery stores. The 1880 Census reported 10 Chinese living in Augusta (of a total of 17 in Georgia) and 8 Chinese grocery stores.

By 1900, Augusta’s Chinese population was 41, with 29 Chinese grocery stores and 8 laundries. Because of the Chinese Exclusion Acts that strictly regulated Chinese immigration (affecting women and children) to the United States, virtually no Chinese families in Augusta existed in those early years.

The nucleus of the present day community of CCBA families began around 1915 with the arrival of wives and families to Augusta. From that point, Augusta’s Chinese community began to grow. The 1940 Census reported a Chinese population of 224 and 63 grocery stores. However, starting in the 1950s, the number of grocery stores began a slow, steady decline. Today, no Chinese-operated stores remain in operation.

In 1927, 59 local Chinese men signed a petition to charter the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of Augusta. The Association met in several locations until 1939 when it acquired its present facility, a vacant Lutheran Church built in 1859. This facility became and remains today the hub and focus of the CCBA community. Chinese school, banquets, weddings and numerous events have been held in this building throughout the years. The building has undergone numerous renovations and is continuously being updated to meet the changing needs of the membership.

The original members of the CCBA were Cantonese, and currently, most of the members remain so. Beginning in the 1970s, Augusta began to see an influx of Chinese professionals who later formed the CSRA Chinese Association. This trend has accelerated in recent years because of the many Chinese students and faculty members at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. There are now three Chinese associations in Augusta: the CCBA, the CSRA Chinese Association, and the MCG Chinese Students and Scholars Association. Over the last several years, the three associations have worked together to host several joint social activities, in addition to combining their talents and efforts to highlight China when it was the featured country at the 2003 Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival.