The
anti-apartheid movement
The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by the policie ...
was a worldwide effort to end South Africa's apartheid regime and its oppressive policies of racial segregation. The movement emerged after the
National Party government in South Africa won the election of 1948 and enforced a system of racial segregation through legislation. Opposition to the
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
system came from both within South Africa and the international community, in particular Great Britain and the United States. The anti-apartheid movement consisted of a series of demonstrations, economic divestment, and boycotts against South Africa. In the United States, anti-apartheid efforts were initiated primarily by nongovernmental human rights organizations. On the other hand, state and federal governments were reluctant to support the call for sanctions against South Africa due to increasing cold war demands and profitable economic ties. The rift between public condemnation of apartheid and the U.S government's continued support of the South African government delayed efforts to negotiate a peaceful transfer to majority rule. Eventually, a congressional override of President Reagan's veto resulted in passage of the
Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act
The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 was a law enacted by the United States Congress. The law imposed sanctions against South Africa and stated five preconditions for lifting the sanctions that would essentially end the system of apart ...
in 1986. However, the extent to which the anti-apartheid movement contributed to the downfall of apartheid in 1994 remains under debate.
Anti-Apartheid movement during the Civil Rights era
Connections with civil rights organizations
The origins of the anti-apartheid movement in the United States can be traced to the late 1940s, when apartheid laws were first enacted. Although anti-apartheid efforts did not gain much momentum during the beginning of the Civil Rights era, several organizations supported the defiance campaign in South Africa. In the early years, the Council on African Affairs (CAA) devoted to the liberation of Africans against colonialism.
Led by
Alphaeus Hunton
Alphaeus Hunton Jr. (1903–1970) was a civil rights activist. He was executive director of the Council on African Affairs.
Life
He was born on 18 September 1903, in Atlanta. His family moved to Brooklyn. He graduated from Howard University, and ...
, the CAA published educational content and lobbied the federal government and the United Nations for economic disengagement from South Africa. The CAA, however, shortly decline in activity and eventually succumbed to anti-Communist government repression in 1955.
Following the
Sharpeville massacre
The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of ...
in 1960, during which South African police opened fire on a group of unarmed protestors, there was a significant change in public opinion in the United States about South Africa.
The massacre fomented a connection between the civil rights movement, the defiance campaign for African liberation, and the resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa. However, the anti-apartheid movement was soon overshadowed by domestic issues, including the Cold War and resistance against the Vietnam War.
Creation of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA)
The
American Committee on Africa (ACOA)
Africa Action is a nonprofit organization that is based in Washington, D.C., working to change U.S.–Africa relations to promote political, economic and social justice in nations of Africa. They provide accessible information and analysis, and ...
was the first major group devoted to the anti-apartheid campaign. Founded in 1953 by
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...
and a group of civil rights activist, the ACOA encouraged the U.S. government and the United Nations to support African independence movements, including the
National Liberation Front in Algeria and the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
drive to independence in present-day Ghana.
The ACOA garnered support from civil rights groups such as the
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission ...
(CORE) as well as churches and labor unions.
During the 1960s, the ACOA participated in demonstrations, lobbying, and sit-ins to protest the United States’ governmental and business relations in South Africa. Most notably, the ACOA joined a union of churches to create the Washington Office in Africa as a permanent lobbying arm for relief projects in South Africa.
American anti-apartheid activists advocated for a greater attention on apartheid as the
South African Airways
South African Airways (SAA) is the flag carrier airline of South Africa. Founded in 1934, the airline is headquartered in Airways Park at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and operated a hub-and-spoke network, serving ten destin ...
advertised flights from Johannesburg to New York City.
In 1969, a group of anti-apartheid activists, including the ACOA and Representative
Charles Diggs Jr. (D-MI) challenged SAA's entry into the United States, claiming that such travel would violate domestic civil rights laws of nondiscrimination.
The case was subsequently taken to court, and though it remained unresolved, activists leveraged efforts at blocking SAA's federal route to opposing South Africa's broader apartheid rules.
Early divestment and sanctions
Under the Truman and Eisenhower administration, the U.S. government took a reactionary role against South Africa's apartheid system, with leaders accepting the legitimacy of white supremacy in an attempt to maintain the flow of governmental and business relations.
Support for the anti-apartheid movement primarily involved small groups of activists and had limited impact. The ACOA participated in civil rights groups such as the
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission ...
and the
National Association of Colored People (NAACP) in pressuring businesses to divest investment from South Africa.
Throughout the 1960s, churches and civil rights groups also organized protests, boycotts, and litigation campaigns to oppose apartheid.
However, resistance to the apartheid system was outweighed by the prevailing U.S economic interests in South Africa. The United States was determined to secure South African uranium production and mutually beneficial trade relationships. Until 1958, the United States abstained from voting on UN resolutions concerning South Africa's discriminatory policies.
As hypocrisies of the U.S. government became apparent in the reaction to the
Sharpeville massacre
The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of ...
in 1960, Rep.
Ron Dellums
Ronald Vernie Dellums (November 24, 1935 – July 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Californi ...
of California and Rep.
John Conyers
John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit. ...
of Detroit introduced the first divestment legislation to the U.S. Congress in 1972, paving the way for subsequent campaigns against bank loans to South Africa.
Anti-Apartheid movement during the 1970s and 1980s
Creation of TransAfrica
The U.S. anti-apartheid movement gained rapid momentum after the
Soweto uprising of 1976, which was a series of student-led demonstrations against the government's decree of imposing Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in all black schools. At the 1976 Black Forum on Foreign Policy Leadership Conference, attendees expressed a need for a separate, outside organization to complement efforts of the
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) inside Congress. As a result, the CBC helped establish
TransAfrica
TransAfrica (formerly ''TransAfrica Forum'') is an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to influence the foreign policy of the United States concerning African and Caribbean countries and all African diaspora groups. They are a res ...
in 1977 as a Black American foreign policy organization. Similar to the ACOA, TransAfrica was not exclusively an anti-apartheid organization but rather a body that addressed Afro-Caribbean concerns. Led by
Randall Robinson
Randall Robinson (born July 6, 1941) is an African-American lawyer, author and activist, noted as the founder of TransAfrica Forum, TransAfrica. He is known particularly for his impassioned opposition to apartheid, and for his advocacy on behal ...
, TransAfrica organized protest movements throughout the United States, including demonstrates outside the South African embassy that resulted in 5,000 Americans being arrested. In addition, it also advocated for progressive viewpoints in U.S. foreign policy debates by amplifying the voices of African Americans. Soon after its establishment, TransAfrica became the largest anti-apartheid organizer in the United States.
Free South Africa Movement
In 1984, TransAfrica was a founding member of the
Free South Africa Movement
The Free South Africa Movement (FSAM) was a coalition of individuals, organizations, students, and unions across the United States of America who sought to end Apartheid in South Africa. With local branches throughout the country, it was the pri ...
. Having learned the mistakes its predecessors, the Free South Africa Movement dogmatically pursued to campaign against apartheid in South Africa, rather than diluting its focus across multiple countries. The group worked closely with members of Congress to introduce legislations imposing economic sanctions in South Africa. Following the protest at the South African embassy in Washington, DC, sit-ins and demonstrations took place at South African consulates across the United States.
Together, the activities of TransAfrica and the Free South Africa Movement greatly increased support for economic sanctions. Universities, banks, businesses, and local governments also began to withdraw their ties to South Africa and push members of Congress to impose more stringent measures.
Demonstrations at universities
The humanitarian goals of the Free South Africa Movement attracted widespread support from colleges and universities to mobilize against South African apartheid.
Students and faculty members protested, demonstrated, and signed petitions to pressure their institutions’ board of trustees to divest of South Africa-related securities.
Organizations such as the Co-op system at the University of California Berkeley called on students to withdraw their accounts from Bank of America to protest the bank's loans to South Africa.
These student-led divestment campaigns eventually led local and state governments to pass legislation requiring divestment of holdings in companies conducting business in South Africa.
Furthermore, using a new tactic of protest known as the
shantytown, students created their own shantytowns in the middle of campus to demonstrate the deplorable living conditions in South Africa.
The Free South Africa Coordinating Committee at the University of Michigan built the first shantytown in 1986. By 1990, more than 46 shantytown events occurred at college campuses across the country.
In addition to shantytowns, Black students at Ohio State University protested against university policies and practices regarding minority students in what became known as the “Black Student Movement." Scholarship programs were also expanded to encourage black South African students to study in U.S. colleges and universities.
Sports and cultural boycotts
Banned participation at the Olympic games
![Flag of South Africa (1992 Summer Olympics)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Flag_of_South_Africa_%281992_Summer_Olympics%29.svg)
Opposition to South Africa's participation in the Olympics began with
Dennis Brutus
Dennis Vincent Brutus (28 November 1924 – 26 December 2009) was a South African activist, educator, journalist and poet best known for his campaign to have South Africa banned from the Olympic Games due to its racial policy of apartheid.
...
, a South African political activist.
In 1961, Brutus found the South African Sports Association, which became the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC) in 1963.
During the
1964 Tokyo Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this hon ...
, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned South Africa from participating in the Olympics over its discriminatory practices under the apartheid.
The stipulations outlined by the IOC required that the South African sports teams be multiracial. Under
John Vorster
Balthazar Johannes "B. J." Vorster (; also known as John Vorster; 13 December 1915 – 10 September 1983) was a South African apartheid politician who served as the prime minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and the fourth state presid ...
, the new South Africa Primer Minister, the South African government introduced a “New Sports Policy” as an attempt to diversify its sports teams. Upon investigation by the IOC, however, it was found that Olympic trials for South African teams were separated by race, with the best from each group qualify for the mixed-race team.
As a result of South Africa's continual discriminatory practices, an international boycott campaign was formed to oppose South Africa's participation in the
1968 Mexico City Olympics, which prompted the IOC to withdraw its invitation to South Africa.
The
ban against South African participation in the Olympics was not lifted until 1992, the same year when South Africa formally ended its apartheid system. Readmission to the Olympic games hinged on further progress toward integration of South African sports. At the
1992 Barcelona Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
, South African athletes competed under a neutral Olympic flag. Following the election of
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
in 1994, South Africa entered the Olympic stage under its post-apartheid flag for the first time at the
1996 Olympic games
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
.
Artists and athletes against apartheid
The cultural and entertainment boycott represented another important avenue to express opposition to South Africa's apartheid. Since the 1960s, many artists and entertainers have declared that they will not perform in South Africa or have their works shown there because of the government's rigid adherence to apartheid. Others participated in anti-apartheid events or contributed financially to international campaigns for the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa. As protests against artists who performed in South Africa occurred, tennis player
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Unite ...
and singer
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...
found Artists and Athletes Against Apartheid in 1983 to lobby for sanctions and embargoes against the South African government. The group consisted of more than sixty U.S. artists and athletes, including
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...
,
Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...
, and
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
, who refused to perform in South Africa until the apartheid was dismantled.
In 1985,
Steven Van Zandt and
Arthur Baker also found the protest group
Artists United Against Apartheid and produced the record ''
Sun City'' to voice concerns for apartheid and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. Proceeds from the album were donated to The Africa Fund to support humanitarian efforts of anti-apartheid groups.
Legislative changes
Constructive engagement
After the 1980 election, President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's adopted the policy of
constructive engagement
Constructive engagement was the name given to the conciliatory foreign policy of the Reagan administration towards the apartheid regime in South Africa. Devised by Chester Crocker, Reagan's U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs ...
with South Africa in 1981. Written by Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State
Chester Crocker
Chester Arthur Crocker (born October 29, 1941) is an American diplomat and scholar who served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from June 9, 1981, to April 21, 1989, in the Reagan administration. Crocker, architect of the U.S. p ...
, the policy called for easing economic sanctions and improving trade relationships to gradually steer South Africa away from the apartheid system. South Africa's role as a critical Cold War ally and a profitable investment environment led the Reagan administration to avoid anti-apartheid rhetoric and remain political and economically engaged in South Africa.
However, with increasing pressure from Congress, university students, and civil rights activists, combined with the lack of actionable changes within South Africa's government, Reagan was forced reassess his policies towards South Africa.
Debate ensues on whether constructive engagement helped end or prolong South Africa's apartheid system.
Sullivan principles
In the late 1970s through the 1980s, the
Sullivan Principles has been used as a criterion for divestment of business holdings in South Africa.
Founded by Reverend
Leon Sullivan
Leon Howard Sullivan (October 16, 1922 – April 24, 2001) was a Baptist minister, a civil rights leader and social activist focusing on the creation of job training opportunities for African Americans, a longtime General Motors Board Member, an ...
, the code called for non-segregation of races in the workforce, fair employment practices, equal pay, increased training programs, promotion potential for nonwhite South Africans, and improved quality of life standards for employees. Although the Sullivan Principles was intended to promote desegregation and improve conditions for black South African workers, it was condemned by U.S. anti-apartheid activists as being reformist and irrelevant to the structural issues of the apartheid.
Companies were forced to work within a legal system in which blacks were disenfranchised of basic economic and political rights in South Africa.
Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986
With support from members of the Free South Africa Movement, Congress passed the
Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986
The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 was a law enacted by the United States Congress. The law imposed sanctions against South Africa and stated five preconditions for lifting the sanctions that would essentially end the system of apart ...
designed to end apartheid in South Africa.
The act called for sanctions on trade, investment, and travel between the United States and South Africa and stated preconditions for lifting the sanctions. Initially, President Reagan vetoed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, upholding his policy of constructive engagement. Though Reagan endorsed the “spirit” of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in helping U.S. firms fight apartheid from within South Africa, Regan believed that harsh economic sanctions were not the best course of action.
Eventually, Congress took matters into its own hands by overriding the presidential veto and voting the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act into law in October 1986.
References
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Wikipedia Student Program
Anti-Apartheid organisations
South Africa–United States relations
International opposition to apartheid in South Africa