American Committee on Africa
The records of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) document its significant involvement in African liberation struggles in the twentieth century, including a wealth of rare materials illuminating key figures in African independence movements.
With a breadth of primary source material documenting US solidarity with liberation movements throughout Africa, the collection illuminates a wide range of intersecting themes, from social justice, civil rights, and decolonisation, to US anti-apartheid movements and Africa in the Cold War. Features such as biographies and a timeline will assist students in navigating and engaging with the resource, while the in-depth nature of the material will resonate with advanced researchers across a range of subject areas.
Based in New York, the ACOA’s mission was to support African liberation struggles and educate the American public about African affairs. The organisation played a key role in the campaigns against apartheid in South Africa, especially through economic sanctions and divestment, as well as promoting anti-colonial movements across the continent.
Highlights
- Correspondence, writings and speeches from numerous African political leaders including Kenneth Kaunda, Tom Mboya, Eduardo Mondlane, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo
- Rare publications, newsletters, and pamphlets from key African Independence movements, including Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, African National Congress, Zimbabwe African National Union, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, South-West Africa People’s Organisation, Tanganyika African National Union, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola and Polisario
- Collected materials related to activist campaigns against US corporations doing business with colonial regimes
- The George M Houser collection which includes over six hours of film taken by Houser during trips to various African countries through his association with the American Committee on Africa
- Interviews and music recordings primarily made by George Houser during his visits to Southern Africa
Included in
Modules include
| Module | Summary | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Module I: Liberation Movements, Solidarity and Activism |
Publishing 2024 |
|
| Module II: Anti-Apartheid Movements and Democracy |
Coming soon |
Key data
Period covered
Source archive
- Amistad Research Center, New Orleans
- Activism
- African Independence movements
- Anti-apartheid campaigns
- Cold War politics
- Foreign policy
- Human rights
- Lobbying
- Race relations
- Audio
- Correspondence
- Ephemera
- Film
- Minutes
- Newspapers
- Pamphlets
- Periodicals
- Photographs
- Posters
- Reports
- Manna Duah, North Carolina Central University
- Amanda Joyce Hall, Northwestern University
- Richard Knight, African Activist Archive
- Zeb Larson, Independent
- Peter Limb, Michigan State University
- Elizabeth McMohan, Tulane University
- Aurora Almada e Santos, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
- Mélanie Torrent, Université de Picardie Jules Verne
- African Studies
- Communities, Peoples and Nations
- Ethnic and Indigenous Studies
- North American Studies
- Political History and Science
