[Back to Formatted Version]

Ed Ferguson Oregon Anti-Apartheid Scrapbook, 1980-2012

By Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Nielsen.

Collection Overview

Title: Ed Ferguson Oregon Anti-Apartheid Scrapbook, 1980-2012

Predominant Dates: 1980-1982

ID: MSS Apartheid

Primary Creator: Ferguson, Ed

Extent: 0.1 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Ed Ferguson Oregon Anti-Apartheid Scrapbook documents the protest and educational campaign led by the Oregon State University (OSU) African Students' Association in response to OSU wrestling coach Dale Thomas' association with the South African wrestling community. Ed Ferguson, a specialist in African history, was a faculty member in the History Department at Oregon State University from 1979 to 1991.

Items from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Scope and Content Notes

The Ed Ferguson Oregon Anti-Apartheid Scrapbook consists of newspaper clippings and other related materials assembled by Ed Ferguson. The scrapbook documents the protest and educational campaign led by the Oregon State University (OSU) African Students' Association (ASA) during 1980-1982 in response to OSU wrestling coach Dale Thomas' association with the South African wrestling community. Thomas' hosting of visiting South African coaches and a proposed team tour of that country drew fire because of an international ban on competition with South African athletes as a protest of the racist apartheid political system.

The clippings are primarily from the Daily Barometer campus newspaper and the local Corvallis Gazette-Times. The scrapbook also includes items from the Oregonian and newspapers published in Salem, Eugene, Roseburg, Redmond, Prineville, and John Day. The clippings include editorials about the campaign, articles about campus presentations sponsored by ASA on apartheid, reports of public campus forums, letters to the editor by Ferguson, and news stories about Ferguson's involvement in the forums. In addition to clippings, the scrapbook includes a lengthy July 14, 1981 letter to OSU President Robert MacVicar from the African Students' Association (ASA) and news releases issued by the ASA.

This scrapbook is a photocopy of the original compilation and is titled Enforcing the International Sports Boycott of South Africa at OSU: News Clippings from the Struggle. It includes a brief introduction written by Ferguson in 2012 as well as a description of the Oregon Anti-Apartheid Files, of which the original scrapbook is a component. The Oregon Anti-Apartheid Files were donated by Ferguson to the African Activist Archive at Michigan State University in 2012.

Items from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Ed Ferguson, a specialist in African history, was a faculty member in the History Department at Oregon State University from 1979 to 1991. Soon after arriving at Oregon State in 1979, Ferguson became advisor to the campus African Students' Association. He also established ties with anti-apartheid activities in Eugene, Salem, and Portland as part of the state-wide anti-apartheid movement in Oregon.

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 1 box

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The scrapbook was donated to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center by Ferguson in 2012.

Related Materials: Additional materials documenting anti-apartheid protests in Oregon are part of the African Activist Archive at Michigan State University. Additional materials documenting apartheid protests and South African disinvestment at Oregon State University are part of the Associated Students of Oregon State University (ASOSU) Records (RG 011). The Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers(MSS Pauling) also include items pertaining to the apartheid protests.

Preferred Citation: Ed Ferguson Oregon Anti-Apartheid Scrapbook (MSS Apartheid), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Creators

Ferguson, Ed
Oregon State University. African Students' Association

People, Places, and Topics

Adult college students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Anti-apartheid movements--Oregon.
Ferguson, Ed
Oregon Multicultural Archives
Oregon State University--Students.
Oregon State University--Wrestling.
Student activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
Students, Foreign--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History
Wrestling--Oregon--Corvallis.

Forms of Material

Scrapbooks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.