“A n I nternational A lliance of P eople of A ll N ations A gainst R acism ”: N onviolence and S olidarity in the A ntiapartheid A ctivism of the A merican C ommittee on A frica , 1952 – 1965 1

Martin Luther King's 1965 call for “People of all Nations” to impose economic sanctions on South Africa grew from his experience with active nonviolence in the American civil rights movement. King worked with the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) to oppose apartheid. Initially, both ACOA and King looked to the antiapartheid struggle in South Africa as an exemplary use of nonviolence in opposition to racial segregation. The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, which prompted the South African antiapartheid movement's turn from nonviolence to armed struggle, created a quandary for American advocates of nonviolence. King and ACOA responded to this dilemma by advocating the transnational application of sanction and boycott. Thus, a new form of solidarity developed in which opponents of apartheid outside South Africa used nonviolence to help create ways for peoples of all nations to express their opposition to racism.