You Chung Hong

Who was You Chung Hong?

You Chung Hong was an American attorney and community leader who was the first Chinese American lawyer admitted to practice law in the state of California, having passed the bar examination before he became the first Chinese American graduate of the University of Southern California Law School. You played a major role in the development of Chinatown in Los Angeles, helping rebuild the community after it was relocated to accommodate the construction of Union Station in the 1930s.

Hong was born on May 4, 1898 in San Francisco, California, his father a Chinese immigrant who had worked constructing railroads. He moved to Los Angeles after graduating from Lowell High School. There he worked as an interpreter for the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service and taught English to recent immigrants as a means to pay for his education. He graduated from the University of Southern California Law School in 1924 with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1924 and a Master of Laws degree in 1925. He passed the bar on March 26, 1923, not yet having completed law school, making him the first Chinese American in California admitted to practice law in the state.