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35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Super Hero
BENJAMIN BANNEKER
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Ralph Bunche
Born in abject poverty, Ralph Bunche rose to become one of this country's
greatest diplomats. His lifelong mission was to secure peace and to promote
social justice throughout the world. In the process, he helped establish the
United Nations, mediated an Arab-Israeli peace accord, and was the first African
American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Bunche was born August 7, 1904; his father was a barber in a Detroit ghetto.
His parents' poor lot in life worsened after his birth. The dismal conditions
they lived in caused his father and his mother to die from tuberculosis and
rheumatic fever, respectively, when he was only 12.
But Bunche had shown early scholarly promise in elementary school. After
moving to Los Angeles with his grandmother, he graduated from high school as
class valedictorian in 1922. In 1927, he graduated from the University of
California at Los Angeles summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with a degree in
international relations.
His studies earned Bunche a graduate spot at Harvard University, where he
received his master's degree in government in 1928 and his Ph.D. in political
science in 1934. He was the first African American to earn that doctorate at
Harvard.
Bunche went on to study at Northwestern University, the London School of
Economics, Capetown University, and throughout Africa. He also established the
Political Science Department at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Between
1938 and 1940, he collaborated with Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal on An
American Dilemma. The book was a landmark study of race relations in the
United States.
During World War II, Bunche became a specialist on African affairs within the
State Department, making him the first African American to hold an important
position in that government branch. Afterward, he helped draw up the charter for
the United Nations and developed the framework for governing the defeated
countries.
Bunche earned his stripes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when he became
the key mediator of the conflict after the original United Nations negotiator
was assassinated. Bunche secured a truce between the countries in 1949 and won
the Nobel Peace Prize for his effort. He dedicated the rest of his life to the
United Nations, calling it the greatest peace effort in history.
A key United Nations member for two decades, Bunche rose to the post of
undersecretary for special political affairs. The chief trouble-shooter for
resolving global unrest, his most important accomplishments involved resolving
the 1956 Suez crisis, helping to end the 1960 crisis in newly independent Zaire,
and directing the 1964 peacekeeping expedition to Cyprus. Bunche also found time
to march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on behalf of civil rights.
Ralph Bunche retired from the United Nations in 1970 and died in New York
City on December 9, 1971.
From Great African Americans.
Copyright, Publications International, Ltd.
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