Ralph Bunche
(1904-1971)

African-American Diplomat
1st Person of Color to Win Nobel Peace Prize
1950 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
1963 Presidential Medal of Freedom

birthdate: August 7
birthplace:
Detroit, Michigan

Ralph Bunche's mother died when he was 13 and he and his sister were raised by their grandmother. She was very light skinned and could have passed for white if she had wanted to, but instead instilled in her grandchildren a strong pride in being black. It was this drive to show white people that blacks could do anything they could do that drove Ralph Bunche to excel. Even though he had to work odd jobs all through school to help support his family, he was a gifted athlete and a brilliant student, graduating first from his high school class and was valedictorian as well at the University of California where he majored in international relations.

Ralph Bunche was very involved in the civil rights movement, and wrote a book and other publications about racism. He was chosen as a member of President Roosevelt's unofficial "Black Cabinet" which helped advise the President about issues affecting black Americans. Adamantly against segregation, holding that as long as there is segregation there can not be a true democracy, he turned down President Harry Truman's offer to be the assistant Secretary of State because he would have to live in segregated housing in Washington, DC. During World War II, Ralph Bunche advised the State Department about strategic military affairs in Africa and was the first African American to have a desk job at the State Department.

In 1946 Ralph Bunche was borrowed by the newly formed United Nations to head the Department of Trusteeship of the UN, which oversees peoples who haven't yet achieved self-government. He worked for the UN for the rest of his life. His toughest assignment came in the late 1940s when he worked for several years to help negotiate a peace agreement between Arabs and Jews fighting in Palestine. In 1949 when an armistice agreement was signed, Ralph Bunche returned to America as a hero, with a parade in New York City, and the city of Los Angeles declaring Ralph Bunche Day. The next year he received the Nobel Peace Prize for this achievement, becoming the first African American to receive this award. The Ralph Bunche Park across the street from the United Nations, is a tribute to this little known better world hero.

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