USSAS was founded in 1990 by Robert Paul Wolff, who was then a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts (Robert Wolff bibliography) and since 1992 has been Professor of Afro-American Studies and Graduate Program Director at UMass. The inspiration for the organization was a conversation Bob had in March, 1990 with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As the volunteer unpaid Executive Director of an anti-apartheid group of Harvard and Radcliffe alumni/ae called Harvard/Radcliffe Alumni and Alumnae Against Apartheid [HRAAA], Bob helped elect Archbishop Tutu to the Harvard Board of Overseers, in an unsuccessful effort to persuade Harvard to divest itself of investments in companies doing business in apartheid South Africa. When Nelson Mandela was released from the Robben Island prison in February 1990, Archbishop Tutu pleaded for re-investment in a new South Africa moving toward freedom. Bob decided to leave HRAAA and start a new organization dedicated to helping poor Black South African students go to South Africa's universities and Technikons. Archbishop Tutu agreed to serve as Honorary Advisor to the new organization, and University Scholarships for South African Students [USSAS] was born.

Working from his home, Bob sent letters of appeal to 85,000 university and college professors in the United States, as well as to the more than one thousand Harvard/Radcliffe alums who had supported HRAAA. The generous donors who responded to those appeals have been helping young Black South Africans ever since.

USSAS began selecting students at the University of Durban-Westville in the province of Natal [now KwaZulu-Natal] on the Indian Ocean. The university was one of the historically all-Black institutions created under the apartheid government, for the handful of African, Coloured, and Indian students who managed to prepare themselves for higher education despite the hopelessly inadequate primary and secondary schools reserved for non-Whites. Originally intended only for Indian students, Durban-Westville in the 1990’s served both Indian and African students.

Prem Singh, a dedicated and energetic Lecturer in Politics, volunteered to select the students receiving USSAS scholarships and watch over them during their years as undergraduates. Over a period of eight years, eight or nine hundred young South Africans were able to study at the University of Durban-Westville, thanks to the generosity of American donors. Some, like young Benedict Zhivani, studied to become lawyers. Others, like Bekesizwe Ndimande, prepared themselves for careers in education. USSAS even sponsored a tall, handsome young African man from the township of Lamontville, Thamsanga Zungu, with a big, rich baritone voice. Thami, who has lost two siblings to AIDS, went on to win a full scholarship at the world-famous Juilliard School of Music in New York City, and is now part of Juilliard's Young Opera Singers program.

After Prem Singh retired from Durban-Westville, he and Bob Wolff took USSAS to other tertiary institutions in South Africa, supporting students for a time at the Qwa Qwa campus of the University of the North, at the Cape Technikon in Cape Town, and at South Africa’s massive distance learning institution, UNISA.

When Prem tragically passed away as the result of a heart attack, responsibility for managing the South African side of USSAS fell to Ms. Sheila Tyeku, a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle who is now the Chair of the Council of the University of the Western Cape. UWC became a major focus of the efforts of USSAS, and for several years now, we have been helping sixty or more students each year there.

In 2001, USSAS responded to the HIV-AIDS epidemic in South Africa by targeting students who were preparing themselves to contribute to the struggle against AIDS. All students receiving USSAS awards are now required to participate in AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns on their campuses.

At present, USSAS supports students at three campuses. AT UWC, we work closely with the director of the AIDS campaign, Ms. Tania Vergnani, and in a new initiative, begun in 2004, we are reaching out to the townships and shack settlements of the Western Cape to find young men and women directly affected by AIDS, either because they have lost family members, or because they themselves are HIV-Positive. We will be bringing them to UWC for undergraduate educations, and supporting them through group meetings and self-help sessions.

At the Durban Institute of Technology, we are supporting twenty students who are being trained by Dr. Frida Rundell as Social Workers to work in the poor communities with Aids-impacted children.

At the Medical University of South Africa [MEDUNSA], we are helping ten young men and women to earn the medical degrees that will prepare them to serve their fellow South Africans in the decades to come.

Finally, to honor the memory of Prem Singh, we have created the Prem Singh Memorial Graduate Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Natal. The first recipient is now studying for a doctorate under the direction of Professor Vishnu Padyachee.