In early 2002, Sister Mary Paul Asoegwu, Ethnic Coordinator of the Office of Migrants and Refugees at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Msgr. Raymond East, Director of the Office of Blacks Catholics at the Archdiocese of Washington, urged African Catholics of the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area to come together. In March 2003, a core group of African Catholics from Ethiopia,Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Eritrea, Congo, Uganda and Senegal came together to discuss the possibility of creating an African Catholic community.

The core group decided to establish an Annual African Catholic Day of Prayer. In October 22, 2004, the first annual African Catholic Day of Prayer was held at St Camillus Catholic Church in Silver Spring, MD. On October 29, 2005, the second annual African catholic Day of Prayer was held St John the Baptist Catholic Church, Silver Spring, MD, where the Association was officially launched.

Other noteworthy events the ACA has taken part in are the planning of the first African National Eucharistic Congress held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Catholic University of America in September 2-3 2006, in Washington DC and hosting a picnic for African Youth in August 2007 in Silver Spring, MD.