African Activist Archive

This report describes the long history of the divestment campaign in Massachusetts, beginning with the intensified repression and protest in South Africa from the period of the mid-1970s and the campaign in Massachusetts against loans to South Africa by First National Bank of Boston. After two failed attempts to pass divestment legislation in 1979 and 1980, and effort was organized to build a broader coalition and form Mass Divest. Many organizations supported the campaign, but key endorsements came from the Massachusetts Teachers Association and AFSCME Council 93, whose members' pensions would be affected, and the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Work of seasoned organizers in the Boston Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa and TransAfrica was also crucial, as was the leadership of Representative Mel King, Senator Jack Backman, and the Black Caucus. The various compromised that were considered – and rejected – are discussed, including exempting companies with high rates in implementing the Sullivan Principles, eliminating the timetable for divestment, and limiting divestment to holdings of stock only. [The document was provided a packet for participants at the April 15, 1983 Conference on Public Investment and South Africa held in Boston.]

African Activist Archive

MASSACHUSETTS' DIVESTMENT BILL: A BRIEF HISTORY

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