When the Free South Africa Movement (FSAM) began in the mid-1980s, it borrowed a number of effective strategies from the playbook of the American civil rights movement. This was mostly focused on the use of non-violent acts of civil disobedience. Large public demonstrations with speeches made by celebrities and other high-profile people were a central part of their tactics. This was reminiscent of the civil rights movement's marches on Washington and other cities. However, these protests usually took the form of pickets in front of the South African embassy and consulates.

The FSAM also staged numerous sit-ins at South African diplomatic consulates in the United States which led to public arrests. This tactic was borrowed directly from the lunch counter sit-ins that attempted to end Jim Crow segregation and garnered significant attention from the media. Furthermore, much like American civil rights groups, the Free South Africa Movement organized boycotts as a major tactic. They urged people in the United States and around the world to boycott South African products to put additional pressure on the apartheid regime.

All of this was all done to gain widespread recognition for the global anti-apartheid movement and to encourage the US government to put diplomatic pressure on the South African government.