U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association

The United States China Peoples Friendship Association (USCPFA), established in 1974, is a nonprofit organization that seeks to maintain a lasting friendship with the Peoples Republic of China. Once the United States established diplomatic relations with China in 1979, the USCPFA was in an excellent position to further its goals. Americans were curious about China and wanted to learn about this distant nation. The USCPFA was ready to meet this need. It sponsored technical, cultural, commercial, and educational exchanges and tours, arranged speakers programs and photo exhibits, offered study classes, and published newsletters, pamphlets and other literature.

The individual who had the vision for the creation of the USCPFA was Unita Blackwell (1933-). Blackwell was a veteran civil rights activist and the first African-American woman to be elected mayor in Mississippi. She made numerous trips to China, including as a member of Shirley MacLaine's groundbreaking 1973 Women's Delegation.

With the support of her colleagues, the USCPFA developed into a formidable organization that reached across the four corners of the country. To achieve a balance for the organization, the USCPFA divided into four regions (Eastern, Midwest, Southern and Western), sub-regional and local units. Each semiautonomous geographic region elected a president to represent its interests within the USCPFA.

The USCPFA's funds and membership peaked in the 1980's and dropped in the 1990s as the organization face competition from tour companies offering travel to China. However, the organization still has 50 chapters throughout the United States, maintains the Center for Teaching About China (CTAC), sponsors an annual two-day seminar, and conducts educational tours of China.

From the guide to the US China Peoples Friendship Association Records, 1974-2000, 1976-1989, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)