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Ralph Johnson Bunche
Diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize
Great Americans Definitive Issue
Scott # 1860
Issued June 12, 1982 in New York, NY
Design by Jim Sharpe
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Ralph Johnson Bunche was born in Detroit
Michigan on August 7, 1904. He was the winner of the 1950
Nobel Peace Prize for his work in obtaining a truce in Palestine
in 1949 and a key member of the United Nations for over twenty years.
Ralph was orphaned at the age of 13 and his
grandmother, Lucy Johnson raised Ralph and his two sisters in
California. "Nana" instilled in the young Ralph her
own values of perseverance, self-reliance, and pride. She encouraged him in
his studies and insisted that he get a college education. Ralph was chosen
valedictorian of his senior high school class.
Ralph graduated Summa
Cum Laude from UCLA in 1927 and earned his graduate degrees in
government and international relations in 1928 and 1934. He was the first
African American to earn a doctorate in Political Science. Ralph became a
member of the faculty at Howard University while still a graduate student in
1928 and he founded and chaired the school's Department of Political
Science.
From 1938 to 1940, Ralph collaborated with Gunnar
Myrdal, the Swedish sociologist on a major study of U.S. race
relations. The work was published in 1944 as, An American Dilemma -The
Negro Problem and Modern Democracy.
Ralph served in the State Department, the War
Department and the Office
of Strategic Services (CIA) during World War II. In 1944 he
participated in the Dumbarton
Oaks Conference in San Francisco which laid the foundation for the
United Nations charter. Ralph became the director of the Trusteeship
Department of the United Nations Secretariat in 1947 and in this
position he worked tirelessly for the decolonization of Africa and other
colonial issues.
Ralph was sent to Jerusalem in 1948 to aide the
United Nations chief negotiator, Count
Folke Bernadotte. When Count Bernadotte was assassinated, Ralph
assumed the position of chief mediator and negotiated the peace treaty between
the Palestinians and the Israelis. He was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize for his efforts in 1950.
In 1955 Ralph was appointed to the post of Undersecretary
for Special Political Affairs. He was the chief troubleshooter for Dag
Hammarskjöld in the middle east and
in 1956 he supervised the deployment of a U.N. force to Egypt following it's
invasion by Great Britain, France and Israel. Ralph also directed United
Nations peace keepers in the Congo in 1960 and on Cyprus in 1964. In 1963
President Kennedy awarded Ralph Bunche the Medal
of Freedom.
After 1964, Ralph began to participate more
actively in the Civil
Rights movement speaking out against racial discrimination and
participating in the Civil Rights marches of 1965. Ralph was a
member on the board of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People for twenty-two
years.
Ralph Johnson Bunche died in New York City on
December 9, 1971.
Sources:
Encyclopedia
Britannica
Encyclopedia
Africana
Nobel Foundation -
Nobel Museum
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