The Harvard Law School Library has acquired an oral history collection documenting the legacy of TransAfrica — a former Washington, D.C.-based foreign policy advocacy organization dedicated to shaping U.S. policy toward Africa and the African diaspora — and its founder, Harvard Law alumnus Randall Robinson.
Robinson co-founded TransAfrica in 1977 and served as its executive director for 24 years. Throughout its 37 years of operation, the organization influenced a broad range of U.S. policies toward the African world, including initiatives regarding U.S. military interventions, Third World debt relief, and the promotion of social and economic justice throughout the African diaspora. Two of the organization’s most notable achievements were influencing the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 and supporting the multinational movement to restore Haiti’s democracy. TransAfrica closed its doors in 2014.
The new collection at Harvard features more than 120 oral histories recorded by Ronald Williams II for his forthcoming book on this history of TransAfrica: Black Embassy: TransAfrica and the Struggle for Foreign Policy (University of North Carolina Press). Williams’ interviews include conversations with members of Congress, heads of state and government officials, civil rights leaders, cultural figures and entertainers, as well as TransAfrica staff, volunteers, and grassroots organizers whose contributions were central to the organization’s work.
“TransAfrica was the most successful and longest-lasting African American advocacy organization for Africa,” said Dr. Williams, former professor of African American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “I hope that this book and the collection can serve as a foundation for further research on the anti-apartheid movement and the role of Black Americans in shaping U.S. foreign policy over the last 60 years.”
