Ronald Williams II

The project:

Black Embassy is an institutional history of the African American foreign advocacy organization TransAfrica, which is most known for its pivotal role in galvanizing American anti-apartheid activism in the 1980s through the Free South Africa Movement. Drawing on extensive archival research and more than 100 original interviews, the book sets out to cover virtually every development in American foreign policy vis-à-vis Africa and the Caribbean since World War II. More broadly, it chronicles the efforts of African Americans to wield influence in US foreign relations, as told through the remarkable story of this once-prominent organization. Black Embassy also offers the most extensive treatment of the life and work of TransAfrica’s co-founder and longtime president, Randall Robinson, distinguished on the world stage as a champion for human rights and global justice for people of African descent.

From Black Embassy:

At just shy of 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 21, 1984, TransAfrica’s president Randall Robinson entered the South African Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, DC. Joining him were Mary Frances Berry, a member of the US Commission on Civil Rights; Georgetown University law professor and former chairwoman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Eleanor Holmes Norton; and District of Columbia Congressional Delegate Walter Fauntroy. The purpose of their visit was to meet with South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Bernardus G. Fourie. They wanted to discuss contemporary problems and issues in South Africa and the relationship between Pretoria and Washington. At least, this was how the ambassador understood the agenda. 

Not long after their arrival, Robinson and his colleagues were escorted to the ambassador’s office on the embassy’s second floor, where they began their conversation with Ambassador Fourie and two members of his staff. The meeting got off to a good start. The ambassador discussed South Africa’s policies with his guests, including an explanation of the newly adopted constitution. Everyone seemed pleased with the tone and direction of the conversation, albeit for different reasons. Things were moving along so well with the ambassador that, as Robinson recalls, “after a time he almost audibly relaxed as if deciding that these black leaders were more reasonable than he could have hoped for. At the forty-five-minute mark, he even seemed to be enjoying himself.”

At that point, Eleanor Holmes Norton politely excused herself from the meeting and exited the embassy.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Fourie continued discussions with Berry, Fauntroy, and Robinson for about ten more minutes before one of his aides beckoned him to step outside of the room. Returning several minutes later and looking absolutely shocked, Fourie informed his guests of what he had just learned. “We’re getting calls from the press. Mrs. Norton is outside telling the media that the three of you will not leave until your demands are met.” Robinson calmly stated: “Mr. Ambassador, please convey to your government our basic demand, which is twofold. All of your government’s political prisoners must be released immediately. These would include, among others, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, the thirteen labor leaders arrested recently without charge, and the three black leaders who have taken refuge in the British consulate in Durban. We are further demanding that your government commit itself immediately and publicly to the speedy dismantlement of the apartheid system with a timetable for this task.”
                      
The ambassador attempted to negotiate with Robinson and his associates, but, to his chagrin, they insisted that they would stay until their demands were met. Knowing that the ambassador could not force his government’s hand even if he wanted to, one of his aides asked if there was anything else they could do to get the protesters to retreat. Mary Frances Berry replied with a simple, “No.” That was the end of that.