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Duration: 1966 - 2001
Location: New York, New York, United States
Newsletter: Africa Fund News
NIGERIA Democracy Action Update

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The Africa Fund, a non-profit 501(c)3 organizations, was founded in 1966 by the American Committee on Africa (ACOA, see separate entry). The Africa Fund and ACOA shared office space and some staff (including the Executive Director), and there was some overlap between the boards of the two organizations. The Executive Directors were: George M. Houser (1966-1981), Jennifer Davis (1981-2000) and Salih Booker (2000-2001). The Africa Fund worked to support the struggles against colonialism and apartheid in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Namibia, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and South Africa. The Africa Fund provided material assistance to the education and health programs of African liberation movements. It provided funds to the Mozambique Institute, a FRELIMO run school in Tanzania. The Africa Fund distributed the money raised by the Sun City album including sending $220,000 to the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) run by the African National Congress (ANC) in Tanzania; $160,000 to the South African Council of Churches to aid political prisoners and their families; and $119,000 each to TransAfrica and the ACOA for anti-apartheid educational work in the United States. The Fund also provided clothing, medicine and other support to refugee camps run by liberation movements of South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Western Sahara in Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Algeria. It provided small emergency assistant grants to African refugees in the U.S. The Africa Fund conducted research into U.S. corporate involvement in southern Africa and the archives includes correspondence with companies, questionnaires sent to companies and company documents. It published numerous publications that were widely used by other solidarity organizations in the U.S. from short fact sheets to a comprehensive directory of U.S. corporations doing business in apartheid South Africa and illegally occupied Namibia. The Africa Fund sponsored a weekly half hour television news program "South Africa Now" produced by Globalvision from 1988 to 1991. It exposed violations of the arms embargo against South Africa. The Africa Fund conducted public education campaigns in the U.S. including the "Unlock Apartheid's Jails" campaign for the release of detainees and political prisoners in South Africa. In the 1990s The Africa Fund had an active program supporting the struggle against the dictatorship in Nigeria. Following the end of apartheid the Fund had a program to promote the involvement of state and municipal officials with U.S. policy toward Africa including campaigning for the cancellation of Africa's debt. In 2001 The Africa Fund, ACOA and the Washington, DC-based Africa Policy Information Center merged to form Africa Action and somewhat later the New York office was closed.

Related Archive
Title: Nesbitt (Papers); Prexy
Time Span: 1962 - 1993
Media: 7.4 cubic feet. Includes photos and negatives.
Description: Papers of Nesbitt, a Chicago-area activist, relating to his work as consultant for the Mozambique government and with United States organizations and projects concerning Southern Africa, and their links to related movements in Africa. Included are files relating to the Mozambique Support Network, the Mozambique Solidarity Office (Chicago, IL), the Coalition for Illinois' Divestment from South Africa, the Chicago Committee for the Liberation of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau (CCLAMG), the Angola Support Conference, the American Committee on Africa, The Africa Fund, and the World Council of Churches Program to Combat Racism and the Working Conference on Southern Africa (Madison, WI: 1975). There is also come material concerning Nesbitt's work in the Midwest as a union organizer and representative, teacher, and in community relations in the Chicago Mayor's Office. The papers include correspondence, tour and travel reports, conference and seminar papers, memoranda, and clippings. The photographs document people and events of projects in southern Africa, and also include images used in various organizations' newsletters.

Organizational Archive

Title: Africa Fund Records; The
Time Span: 1966 - 2001
Description: The Africa Fund, a non-profit 501(c)3 organizations, was founded in 1966 by the American Committee on Africa (ACOA). The Africa Fund and ACOA shared office space and some staff (including the Executive Director), and there was some overlap between the boards of the two organizations. The Executive Directors were: George M. Houser (1966-1981), Jennifer Davis (1981-2000) and Salih Booker (2000-2001). The Africa Fund worked to support the struggles against colonialism and apartheid in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Namibia, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and South Africa. The Africa Fund provided material assistance to the education and health programs of African liberation movements, including the Mozambique Institute, a FRELIMO-run school in Tanzania. The Africa Fund distributed the money raised by the Sun City album, including sending $220,000 to the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) run by the African National Congress (ANC) in Tanzania; $160,000 to the South African Council of Churches to aid political prisoners and their families; and $119,000 each to TransAfrica and the ACOA for anti-apartheid educational work in the United States. The Fund also provided clothing, medicine, and other support to refugee camps run by liberation movements of South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Western Sahara in Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Algeria. It provided small emergency assistant grants to African refugees in the U.S., and conducted research into U.S. corporate involvement in southern Africa. It published numerous publications that were widely used by other solidarity organizations in the U.S., from short fact sheets to a comprehensive directory of U.S. corporations doing business in apartheid South Africa and illegally occupied Namibia. The Africa Fund sponsored a weekly half hour television news program "South Africa Now" produced by Globalvision from 1988 to 1991. The Africa Fund conducted public education campaigns in the U.S., including the "Unlock Apartheid's Jails" campaign for the release of detainees and political prisoners in South Africa. In the 1990s, The Africa Fund had an active program supporting the struggle against the dictatorship in Nigeria. Following the end of apartheid, the Fund had a program to promote the involvement of state and municipal officials with U.S. policy toward Africa, including campaigning for the cancellation of Africa's debt. In 2001, The Africa Fund, ACOA and the Washington, DC-based Africa Policy Information Center merged to form Africa Action and somewhat later the New York office was closed. Donated by The Africa Fund.

Related Archive
Title: George M. Houser (Africa collection)
Time Span: 1950s - 1999
Media: 10 boxes, documents, correspondence, photographs, posters, audio material
Description: Covers most countries of Africa, and includes notes on George M. Houser’s many trips to Africa (such as 1960, 1961, 1967, 1972, 1973 (Guinea-Bissau), 1974, 1975/6 (Lusaka, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde), 1978, 1979 (Western Sahara and Algeria), 1981 (taped), 1983, 1989 (Namibia). Major organizations covered include American Committee on Africa (ACOA), The Africa Fund, Africa Action, American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa, and International Defence and Aid Fund. Houser was a founder of ACOA and served as Executive Director from 1955-1981. Houser was Executive Director of ACOA's associate organization The Africa Fund from its founding in 1966 to 1981. ACOA and The Africa were based in New York City but worked nationally in the country and with organizations with similar goals in other countries as well as with liberation movements and leaders in many African countries. The collection includes audio of interviews Houser conducted in South Africa in 1954 with Z.K. Matthews, Kasavello Goonam, Walter Sisulu, Manilal Gandhi, Patrick Duncan and Chief Albert Luthuli. Some of the many correspondents include Julius Nyerere, Joshua Nkomo, Kanyama Chiume, Martin Luther King, Victoria Chitepo, Mary-Louise Hooper, Piet Koornhof (South African Ambassador), George W. Shepherd, and David H. Anthony. Also included are 12 original cassette tapes of interviews by George Houser and Herbert Shore with African National Congress (ANC) leader Walter Sisulu recorded September 20-26 1995, which formed the basis for the book I will go singing : Walter Sisulu speaks of his life and the struggle for freedom in South Africa / in conversation with George M. Houser & Herbert Shore (Cape Town : Robben Island Museum in association with the Africa Fund, New York, 2001). This collection forms part of the African Activist Archive collections. Material deposited by George M. Houser.