Politics
Ralph Bunche
Diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize 1950, first Black laureate
Born 1904 · Died 1971
Photo: U.S. Information Agency. · CC BY-SA 2.0
Ralph Bunche negotiated the 1949 armistice agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbours, work for which he became the first Black person awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He helped design the United Nations trusteeship system.
Key achievements
- Nobel Peace Prize, 1950, for mediation in the Middle East
- First African American to earn a political science doctorate in the US
- Graduated first in his UCLA class in 1927
Universities
Los Angeles, California
Graduated first in his class in 1927 in international relations, having worked as a caretaker to pay his way.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Took his PhD in government in 1934, the first African American to earn a doctorate in political science at a US university.
Facts
- He took over the mediation after the previous UN mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, was assassinated.
- He refused a post in the US State Department because Washington was still segregated and he would not raise his children there.
- UCLA's student union and a campus centre are named after him, and his portrait hangs in the university library.
Photographs
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and licence are shown on each image.