On May 10th, 1869, the same day that people nationwide celebrated the completion of the transcontinental railroad, 30,000 Chinese men lost their jobs. Their hard work on the railroad was done and with limited options available these men sought jobs in restaurants and laundry businesses hoping to create their own niche in the United States. Ultimately their work began to take away jobs from other immigrant groups and fostered anti-Chinese mentality. Different states proceeded to pass their own Chinese laws, and in 1882, things were taken to a new level with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Acts. Chinese could not become US citizens, they could not leave the country even if they were already citizens, and Chinese women could not come to the United States. Widespread racism and intolerance forced Chinese-Americans to form their own communities. Chinatowns began to form in every city, the lower Manhattan Chinatown being one of the first. In 1883, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) opened its doors in order to offer the Chinese of New York City services and protection that the government refused to provide.
Ways in which the CCBA helps its community vary from providing social services to preserving Chinese tradition and cultural heritage to sponsoring educational and recreational activities. When one walks into the CCBA, the walls are covered with Chinese artwork and historical photographs of Chinatown. Placed above a portrait of Sun Yat-sen is a sign from their inception in 1883. Jennifer was lucky to have the chance to meet with Gary Tai, the assistant to the president, who gave details on the various services that the CCBA provides.
The CCBA offers educational opportunities for a variety of ages. The New York Chinese School, which was founded in 1909, “provid[es] young Chinese in the United states with the opportunity to learn the language and culture of their ancestral land.” Enrollment in this school consists of over 3,000 individuals “ranging in levels from kindergarten to 12th grade.” The school also “conducts classes in such specialized subjects as piano, Chinese music, painting, dance, handicrafts, and martial arts.” The Chinatown Day Care Center, which is also affiliated with the CCBA, “has an enrollment of 200 toddlers each month.” In the fall of 1970, the CCBA Adult English Classes opened “to meet the needs of an increasing number of newly arrived immigrants who wanted to learn English.” At present, these classes are said to be “one of the best places for new immigrants to learn English in the Chinatown area.”
The CCBA’s services are not limited to the classroom. The CCBA also supports recreational activities such as the East Coast Summer Volleyball Invitational tournament and the North America Chinese Invitational Volleyball tournament. The CCBA facilities contain table tennis equipment, upon which teams organized by different ethnic groups compete annually. Each year, the CCBA hosts three major celebrations: Chinese New Year, Asian Heritage Month, and Double Ten National Day. These events are really big in Chinatown, and officials from the state and city are “invited to attend these important occasions.”
The CCBA opened its doors over a century ago and is still active in providing for this lower Manhattan community. Although initially their goal was to protect the Chinese from overbearing racism in New York City and the United States as a whole, they have matured, improved, and evolved into the organization that supports present day Chinatown. Because the CCBA has been open for so long, its fortune has grown enormously. Compared to newer organizations in Flushing and Sunset Park, the CCBA is quite rich and does not need to rely on fundraising or business in the area. Although, the organization is still aimed at helping Chinese-Americans, according to Gary Tai new Chinese immigrants in Chinatown still come to the CCBA first, their doors are open to people of all descent, Asian or not. The CCBA no longer seems to be a community group dedicated to confronting the conflict in Chinatown. Instead, this organization has become a community group that persists in providing for an ever-changing Chinatown.
