American Committee on Africa

American Committee on Africa is a collection of digitized primary source materials documenting the work of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) from 1953 through 1981 (from its founding through George Houser's retirement Executive Director). The ACOA was a New York City-based American organization that sought to support independence and anti-colonial movements throughout Africa, as well as the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. It also sought to raise awareness within the United States of political and humans rights issues in Africa. The ACOA founders viewed their work as an extension of their Civil Rights activism in the United States and part of a global campaign for equal rights. 

Materials in this collection were sourced from the American Committee on Africa records and the George M. Houser collection, which are housed at the Amistad Research Center on the campus of Tulane University. On this platform, Rutgers has access to Module 1, Liberation Movements, Solidarity and Activism. Rutgers does not have access to any other modules on this platform.

Because the ACOA was based in the United States, the majority of documents in this collection are written by American authors from a U.S. perspective. The collection contains only a small number of documents by African authors. Pleas note that some materials in this collection may contain terminology that is now considered biased, outdated, or offensive.