African Activist Archive

Pamphlet on the successful campaign to get Massachusetts to pass legislation divesting state pension funds from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa. The campaign's slogan was "Make it in Massachusetts, Not in South Africa." In late 1980, State Senator Jack Backman, a white liberal Democrat from Brookline, and State Representative Mel King, a black Independent from Boston, brought together a number of organizations that had worked independently against apartheid to form the Massachusetts Coalition for Divestment from South Africa, or Mass Divest, and it was the work of Backman, King and Mass Divest that made the victory possible. The pamphlet says those involved included the Black Ecumenical Commission; the Catholic Archdiocese; the Massachusetts Council of Churches; the Service Employees International Union Locals 509 and 285; American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 1489; the Massachusetts Teachers Association; Mobilization for Survival; Boston Peoples Organization; and the American Friends Service Committee. A core group from Boston Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa (BCLSA) and the TransAfrica Boston Support Group along with several independent activists were most important in the day-to-day work. Mass Divest and the legislative sponsors would support nothing short of total divestment and rejected the Sullivan Principles. The pamphlet mentions Dumisani Kumalo and Willard Johnson. • Victory in Massachusetts • Building a Coalition • Nothing Short of Total Divestment • The Strategy of Mass Divest • The Legislative Campaign • The Importance of Victory

African Activist Archive

Make It in Massachusetts, Not in South Africa: How We Won Divestment Legislation

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