The precise origins of the Madison Anti-Apartheid Coalition (MAAC), originally formed as the Madison Area Committee on Southern Africa (MACSA), are uncertain. The records suggest that the committee, first known as the ad hoc Committee for Action on Southern Africa, was formed early in 1969 in response to an increasing local awareness of the situation in Southern Africa. This committee, which included University students, African nationals, and several former African missionaries (or the children of missionaries) advocated forming a permanent organization. As a result of community interest the committee called an organizational meeting for March 22, 1969--one day after the ninth anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre. Although no constitution or by-laws exist in the collection, the newly-formed group took as its purpose publicizing the conditions in southern Africa, developing political pressure, and carrying on research and fundraising.
By October 1969 MACSA had a membership of about forty organized into six committees (Executive Committee, Committee for the University, Committee for Religious Groups, Committee for Public Information, Committee for Schools, and Committee for Research). The first office was located at the University YMCA at 306 N. Brooks Street, but although University students and faculty comprised a major portion of its support, MACSA also included representatives from the community at large. In November, 1969 MACSA published the first issue of a newsletter that was to become its major vehicle for publicizing activities and providing information about the situation in Africa. During the early 1970s MACSA also sponsored guest speakers such as Prexy Nesbitt and Sharfudine Khan, publicized various liberation movements, picketed, supported boycotts of South African products or companies that did business in South Africa, and raised funds for African liberation movements. They also researched and published three pamphlets: Wisconsin Corporate Involvement In Southern Africa, Israel and Southern Africa, and Is Southern Africa Wisconsin's Business?
In August 1972, MACSA moved from the University YMCA to Pres House, and in an effort to improve its financial situation, the newsletter was changed to a subscription publication. In 1975 MACSA News was distributed to a list of over 400 names. During its first years MACSA efforts focused on five countries in southern Africa: the Republic of South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia, but as the African colonies of Portugal gained independence, MACSA concentrated its efforts on South Africa.
The years 1974 and 1975 saw a decline in activity and membership, and, as a result, in September 1975 MACSA restructured itself to provide a newly-established executive committee (the convener, the recorder, and the six committee chairs) with enhanced responsibility to oversee operations and formulate policy. At this time the organization had an active membership of about twenty-five.
Following the Soweto Massacre in 1976, increased national publicity about apartheid and the leadership of Convener Ron Lord (1977-1978) contributed to a second period of MACSA vitality. During this period MACSA petition drives and lobbying contributed to the University of Wisconsin's decision to divest its investments in South African corporations. Although the countries surrounding South Africa (Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe) were still areas of MACSA concern, their main focus in the late 1970s centered on the apartheid system in South Africa. By 1979, however, MACSA had again declined to the point that it no longer functioned on a regular basis.
In 1985 renewed national interest in South Africa and apartheid prompted the formation of a new organization in Madison, the Citizen's Anti-Apartheid Coalition, that included some of the remaining elements of MACSA. Only loosely organized at first, CAAC lobbied for the passage of Assembly Bill 54 and called on the Wisconsin Retirement Investment Trust to divest itself of interest in all companies doing business in South Africa. This committee reorganized as the Madison Anti-Apartheid Coalition (MAAC). The precise relationship of MACSA to this new organization is uncertain. Some documents in the collection describe MAAC as a University student group while MACSA had united a broader community membership. Other materials, however, suggest that MAAC believed itself to be MACSA's successor. (The fact that MACSA records were in the custody of Duncan Chaplin, a MAAC officer, when they were turned over to SHSW, suggests they were correct in this belief.)
MAAC supported the fight against apartheid in South Africa, as well as working with the Mozambique Support Network and the National Namibia Concerns Committee. In 1988 membership stood at twenty full-time members (plus one hundred semi-active members). In October of that year, MAAC published the first (and apparently only) issue of a new newsletter, Madison Anti-Apartheid Coalition. MAAC continued its involvement in activities similar to those supported by MACSA including lobbying for divestment, sponsoring speakers, rallies and benefits. In 1991, membership had decreased to ten full-time members.
