"As someone who was active in the struggle against apartheid inside South Africa and later for two decades in the U.S., I believe it is extremely important that the history of the solidarity movement be documented."
— Dumisani S. Kumalo, South African Ambassador to the UN, letter to David Wiley, 20 December 2002.

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Historical Remembrances

A Brief History of The Boston Coalition For The Liberation Of Southern Africa, Richard Clapp, February, 2004

Richard Clapp, a long time African activist, was a member of the Boston Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa. He currently serves on the Board of South African Exchange Program on Environmental Justice (SAEPEJ) in Boston. The archives of the Boston Coalition are located in the African Activist Archives at Michigan State University Library.…

Documenting Apartheid: 30 Years of Filming South Africa, Peter Davis

Peter Davis is the founder of Villon Films (www.villonfilms.com) has been independently producing and distributing award-winning films since 1970. For many years be was based in the U.S. He has written, produced, and directed more than thirty documentaries including several on apartheid.  His credits include South Africa: the White Laager (1977), a history of Afrikaner nationalism and Generations of Resistance (1980), documenting the long history of African rebellion against white rule up to the student uprising of 1976. The Peter Davis Collection at Indiana University represents thirty years of work. It includes not only films, but also corresponding outtakes, photographs, stills, audiocassettes, and manuscripts, all available for research and study.…

American Supporters of the Defiance Campaign, George M. Houser

George M. Houser was a founder of Americans for South African Resistance (AFSAR), an ad hoc organization which was formed in 1952 to support the “Campaign of Defiance against Unjust Laws” launched by the African National Congress.  The Defiance Campaign came to and end, and in 1953 AFSAR decided to disband and establish a more formal organization, the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), that was dedicated to supporting struggles against colonialism and apartheid throughout the entire continent.  In 1952 Houser, a pioneer in nonviolent direct action in the United States against racism, was executive secretary of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).  He served as Executive Director of ACOA from 1954-1981. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the African Activist Archive Project.  This statement was made at a meeting of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid on June 25, 1982, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Defiance Campaign.  This document is transcribed from a tape recoding of the session and is from the E.S. Reddy collection.…

In Memory of Walter Sisulu (1912-2003), George M. Houser

George M. Houser is a founder of the American Committee on Africa and served as it executive Director from 1954 until 1981.  He had a long acquaintance with Walter Sisulu.  Sisulu played a leading role in South Africa’s freedom struggle as a leader of the African National Congress (ANC).  Sisulu was sentenced with Nelson Mandela to life imprisonment.  The following is the text of Houser’s presentation at memorial service for Walter Sisulu held at Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem, May 22, 2003.…

The Struggle Never Ends, George M. Houser

George M. Houser was a founder of ACOA and served as Executive Director from 1954-1981 and The Africa Fund, an associated organization, from 1966-1981. He has traveled widely in Africa on more than thirty trips and written extensively including his autobiography No One Can Stop the Rain: Glimpses of Africa's Liberation Struggle (New York: Pilgrim Press, 1989) and I Will Go Singing: Walter Sisulu Speaks of his life and the struggle for freedom in South Africa In Conversation with George M. Houser and Herbert Shore (Cape Town: Robben Island Museum, 2001). The following is the text of comments made on October 3, 2003 at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), The Africa Fund, the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), now merged into a single organization Africa Action. ACOA was formed in 1953, The Africa Fund 1966, and APIC in 1978. The organizations merged in 2001.…

Documenting the U.S. Solidarity Movement – With reflections on the sanctions and divestment campaigns, Richard Knight

Richard Knight is Project Director of the African Activist Archive Project. From 1975 to 2001 he worked at the American Committee on Africa and its associate The Africa Fund. This paper was prepared for a conference “International Anti-Apartheid Movements in South Africa’s Freedom Struggle: Lessons for Today” held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, 10-13 October 2004.…

In Memory of Paul Irish (1950 – 2004), Dumisani S. Kumalo

Dumisani S. Kumalo is South Africa’s Ambassador to the United Nations. He previously worked as Projects Director of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) and its associate The Africa Fund. Kumalo worked closely with Paul Irish, who served as Associate Director of ACOA from 1974 to 1987. Prior to joining the staff of ACOA, Paul worked at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility where is responsibilities included corporations doing business in South Africa and divestment.  In 1971, while  a student at Oberlin College, Paul founded the Oberlin Committee on Southern Africa.  Paul was a member of Park Slope United Methodist Church. The following statement was issued by Ambassador Kumalo.…

One of God's Irregulars: William Overton Johnston and the Challenge to the Church to Divest from Apartheid South Africa, 1954-1971, Reverend Edgar Lockwood

Reverend Edgar “Ted” Lockwood began his anti-apartheid activity in 1969 when he helped organize a protest in the lobby of the Episcopal Church Center in New York against the investment of church monies in banks making loans to South Africa. A graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, in 1971 he went to South Africa as an observer at two Terrorism Act trials and visited Namibia to investigate conditions in the territory. He served as Executive Director of the Washington Office on Africa from 1972-1980. He was International Affairs Representative of the American Friends Service Committee from February 1982 until January 1986, based in Harare, Zimbabwe. William “Bill” Johnston founded Episcopal Churchman for a Free South Africa (ECSA) that was later renamed Episcopal Churchpeople for a Free Southern Africa. ECSA was closed following Johnston's death in 1998. This article, reproduced with permission, first appeared in Anglican and Episcopal History, Vol. 71, September 2002.…

South Africa: Liberation and Reconciliation – Role of International Solidarity, E. S. Reddy

E. S. Reddy joined the United Nations Secretariat as a political affairs officer in 1949. From 1963-1965, he was the principal secretary for the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid.  He served as chief of the Section for African Questions from 1965-1976. In 1976 Reddy was appointed the director of the United Nations Centre Against Apartheid, a position he held until 1984. During this time he also served as director of the U.N. Trust Fund for South Africa and the U.N. Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa.  Reddy was the assistant secretary-general of the United Nations from 1983 until his retirement in 1985. The following text is based on a speech at the University of Connecticut under the auspices of UNESCO Chair and Institute of Comparative Human Rights, April 8, 2004.…