This collection contains materials from Bay Area anti-apartheid movements of the 1980s originating from various sources, primarily Bay Area-based South African solidarity groups. Generally, materials in this collection focus on raising awareness of conditions in South Africa under apartheid and promoting local demonstrations and other expressions of solidarity and resistance against the apartheid regime.

Many materials in this collection focus on local divestment movements, calling for direct actions and/or raising awareness of U.S. corporate/municipal investment in South Africa.Divestment was a tactic used to protest the apartheid regime, primarily accomplished by appealing to universities, local/state governments, and companies to divest funds from South Africa, and further, to boycott corporations which continued to invest in South Africa. American oil and technology companies were particularly scrutinized by activists. One such company was IBM, whose significant collaboration with the apartheid regime is detailed in several of the materials in this collection. The American divestment campaign against apartheid gained substantial traction in the 1980s, particularly on college campuses – the University of California system withdrew a total of $3 billion worth of investments from South Africa. Another Bay Area anti-apartheid campaign represented in this collection centers around South African Airways, “the unofficial South African consulate,” which maintained services and whose presence was protested in San Francisco and in airports across the country.

This collection also contains materials on the Anti-Springbok-5, in particular regarding their illegal detainment, charges, and trial for their acts of solidarity and resistance against South African apartheid. The Anti-Springbok-5 were five anti-imperialists who were arrested while protesting the American tour of the Springboks, the all-white South African national rugby team whose members served as representatives of the apartheid regime. Overall, the materials in this collection represent a small subset of international anti-apartheid solidarity movements. Ultimately, a combination of this external pressure and internal resistance led to the defeat of apartheid in 1994.