 Africa Action is the name the organization adopted in 2001, after three organizations, the American Committee on Africa, the Africa Fund, and the Africa Policy Information Center, merged.The American Committee on Africa (ACOA) was founded in New York City in 1953 by George Houser and other activists.It was created by a group of black and white civil rights activists led by Bayard Rustin under name Committee to Support South African Resistance, who had organized support for the historic Defiance Campaign in South Africa the previous year.