Charlotteans for a Free Southern Africa records

Charlotteans for a Free Southern Africa (CFSA) was formed in March 1985 by residents of the Charlotte/Mecklenburg community, state of North Carolina. CFSA was a non-profit membership organization that sought support for the struggle against racist minority rule known as apartheid by making information about Southern Africa available to the community and raised funds to aid refugees, political prisoners and their families who were victims of apartheid. CFSA organized a number of events, including a spring 1985 rally and petition drive to get North Carolina National Bank (NCNB) to stop making loans to South Africa, a vigil later that year expressing solidarity with political prisoners and detainees, and a rally supporting divestment. CFSA sponsored several speakers, including the representative to the United Nations of SWAPO (Southwest Africa People’s Organization), a leader of the End Conscription Campaign that opposed the draft in South Africa, and an exiled union leader formerly active in organizing black South African automobile workers. One of CFSA’s most widely attended events was a spring 1986 poetry reading by renowned South African poet Dennis Brutus. The organization raised funds through the sale of books and other materials to aid political prisoners and their families. Work in 1987 included a fundraising campaign to benefit the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania.