TransAfrica
# TransAfrica

Part of a series on :

African Americans :

History

Periods

Timeline

Atlantic slave trade

Abolitionism in the United States

Slavery in the colonial history of the United States

Revolutionary War

Antebellum period

Slavery and military history during the Civil War

Reconstruction era

Politicians

Juneteenth

Civil rights movement (1865–1896)

Jim Crow era (1896–1954)

Civil rights movement (1954–1968)

Black power movement

Post–civil rights era

Aspects

Agriculture history

Black Belt in the American South

Business history

Military history

Treatment of the enslaved

Migrations

Great Migration

Second Great Migration

New Great Migration :

Culture

Lifeways

Dance

Family structure

Film

Folktales

Music

Musical theater

Names

Neighborhoods

Newspapers

Soul food

Schools

Black schools

Historically black colleges and universities

Fraternities

Stepping

Academic study

Studies

Art

Literature

Celebrations

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Black History Month

Juneteenth

Kwanzaa

Economic class

African-American businesses

Middle class

Upper class

Billionaires

Symbols and ideas

African-American beauty

Black is beautiful

Black pride

African-American hair

Good hair

"Lift Every Voice and Sing"

Self-determination :

Religion

Institutions

Black church

Theologies

Black theology

Womanist theology

Non-Christian groups

Hoodoo

Black Hebrew Israelites

African-American Jews

African-American Muslims

Nation of Islam

Louisiana Voodoo

African Diaspora Religions :

Politics

Organizations

Congressional Black Caucus

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

National Black Caucus of State Legislators

National Conference of Black Mayors

Ideologies

Afrocentrism

Anarchism

Back-to-Africa movement

Black power

Capitalism

Conservatism

Garveyism

Leftism

Nationalism

Pan-Africanism

Patriotism

Populism

Socialism :

Civic / economic groups

Organizations

Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)

Black conductors

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC)

National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)

National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)

National Urban League (NUL)

TransAfrica Forum

United Negro College Fund (UNCF) :

Sports

Negro league baseball

Athletic associations and conferences

Central (CIAA)

Gulf Coast (GCAC)

Mid-Eastern (MEAC)

Southern (SIAC)

Southwestern (SWAC) :

Sub-communities

Multiethnic

African-American Jews

Afro-Puerto Ricans

Black Indians

Black Seminoles

Mascogos

Blaxicans

Brass Ankles

Creoles of color

Dominickers

Melungeon

Carmel Indians

Redbone

Specific ancestries

Americo-Liberians

Creek Freedmen

Gullah

Merikins

Nova Scotians

Samaná Americans

Sierra Leone Creole

Sexual orientation

LGBT community :

Dialects and languages

English dialects

African-American English

African-American Vernacular English

Liberian English

Samaná English

Tutnese

Languages and other dialects

Gullah

Afro-Seminole Creole

Negro Dutch

Black American Sign Language :

Population

U.S. states

Alabama

Arkansas

California

Florida

Georgia

Kansas

Louisiana

Maryland

Mississippi

Nebraska

North Carolina

Oklahoma

Oregon

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

U.S. cities

Black mecca

List of neighborhoods

Atlanta

Baltimore

Boston

Chicago

Dallas-Fort Worth

Davenport

Detroit

Houston

Jacksonville

Kentucky

Los Angeles

New York City

Omaha

Philadelphia

San Antonio

San Francisco

Historic places

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Mississippi

Missouri

Omaha, Nebraska

North Carolina

South Carolina

Texas

West Virginia

Population count

U.S. states and territories

U.S. metropolitan areas

U.S. cities

U.S. communities

Places by plurality of population

Diaspora

Africa

France

Ghana

Israel

Liberia

Nova Scotia

Sierra Leone :

Prejudice

Racism

Black genocide

Race and ethnicity in the United States Census

Racism against Black Americans

Reparations for slavery

School segregation in the United States

Stereotypes and media depictions

Blackface

Criminal stereotypes

Hollywood

Magical Negro

Minstrel show :

United States portal

Category

Index :

vte :

TransAfrica (formerly TransAfrica Forum) is an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to influence the foreign policy of the United States concerning African and Caribbean countries and all African diaspora groups. They are a research, education, and advocacy center for activism focusing on social, economic and political conditions in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America and other parts of the African Diaspora. They are the largest and oldest social justice organization in the United States that focuses on the African world. They have served as a major research, educational, and organizing institution for the African and African Descendant communities and the U.S. public in general.

## Mission

TransAfrica Forum is a research, education, and advocacy center dedicated to global justice for the African World.

According to TransAfrica, it envisions a world where Africans and people of African descent are self-reliant, socially and economically prosperous, and have equal access to a more just international system that strengthens independence and democracy.

TransAfrica is an educational and organizing center that encourages human interest viewpoints in the U.S. foreign policy arena and advocates for justice for the people of Africa and the African Diaspora. TransAfrica creates solidarity between Americans and communities most affected by U.S. policies throughout the world. TransAfrica supports human rights, gender equity, democracy, and sustainable economic and environmental development.

TransAfrica advocates for more just foreign policy through the engagement of African Americans and policymakers.

By connecting people and policymakers to those most affected by U.S. foreign policy, and by encouraging Afro-descendants to be civically active, TransAfrica works to create a more just foreign policy that reflects the values of African Americans, especially respect for human rights.

## History

The Black Forum on Foreign Affairs was formed in 1975, and served as the precursor to TransAfrica. TransAfrica Forum was founded on July 1, 1977, after being conceived a year earlier at a Black Leadership Conference convened by the Congressional Black Caucus in September, 1976. A committee consisting of Randall Robinson, Herschelle Challenor, and Willard Johnson are credited for formulating an organizational design and launch. Robinson became the organization's first Director. It began to launch a series of legislative campaigns, strategic media outreach and activism that increase public awareness of apartheid in South Africa and made a contribution to the global anti-apartheid solidarity movement. It is credited for its role in the anti-apartheid struggle through its activism. Through the Free South Africa Movement, they initiated a letter-writing campaigns, hunger strikes, and protest marches to protest against apartheid and to compel the U.S. government to act against apartheid.

### Arthur R. Ashe Foreign Policy Library

Named after former board member Arthur Ashe, the Arthur R. Ashe Foreign Policy Library is the only library in the U.S. dedicated to sensitizing Americans about African, Caribbean, and Latin-American issues. It is an important resource for policy analysts, scholars and the public.

## Advocacy and education work

TransAfrica continues to work on similar social, political, and economic justice issues throughout the African world. The current priority areas in Africa include Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, South Africa and Uganda. In the Americas, this includes Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and the United States.

### Advocacy and education events

TransAfrica continues to sponsor public seminars, community awareness campaigns and training programs to sensitize the public and policy makers. This includes the Cabral/Truth Circles, film series, lecture series, book club and a writer's forum for authors to discuss their work. They co-sponsor the annual New African Film Festival in Washington, D.C.

### Free South Africa Movement

TransAfrica was a founding member of the Free South Africa Movement. It is a grassroots organization that laid the foundation for the taking the anti-apartheid movement in the U.S. to mainstream politics and lobbying for change. They were at the forefront of the sensitizing U.S. policy makers, students and the public about the anti-apartheid efforts in a strategic move. On November 21, 1984, a day before Thanksgiving, Randall Robinson, Congressman Walter Fauntroy and Mary Frances Berry were arrested for a sit-in staged at the South African embassy. This brought the Anti-South African movements to the national stage. It sparked the formation of the Free South Africa Movement in the U.S. which TransAfrica was a founding member of. Within a few days, there were more sit-ins and demonstrations against South Africa were held nationally. More than 3,000 people were arrested by 1985. TransAfrica exposed the secret strategy meetings between the South African government and the Ronald Reagan administration. TransAfrica worked with the Congressional Black Caucus in formulating legislative strategy for the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. In May 2012, the organisation received the Mandela Freedom Statuette for "exceptional contribution to the struggle for the attainment for non-racial, free and democratic South Africa" from the South Africa government.

## Organization and structure

TransAfrica is run by a board of directors, administered by staff and supported by members. The current chairman of the board is Danny Glover. Past board members have included activists Arthur Ashe, Chuck D and Harry Belafonte. The former Director is Nicole Lee. Past Directors have included Bill Fletcher Jr.

