Ralph Bunche

Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph J. Bunche was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1904. His parents died when he was 12, and both he and his sisters moved to Los Angeles, California with their grandmother. Bunche showed his intelligence early on in life when he won prizes for both English and History in primary school and when he was named valedictorian of his high school class. He then attended UCLA from where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and was the valedictorian of his class. In 1928, he received his Masters degree and spent the next six years teaching at Harvard University and working on his PhD.Bunche was extremely involved in education on both the teaching and administrative levels. In addition to teaching at Harvard, he served as the chairman of Harvard's Political Sciences Department, was on New York City's Board of Education and sat on the board of the Institute of International Education, a multi-national organization dedicated to fostering higher education around the globe.

Bunche was seen by some as a young radical regarding civil rights but was more of a moderate, according to nobelprize.org. When offered the position of Assistant Secretary of State by President Harry Truman, Bunche declined because of segregated housing in Washington, D.C. In addition, Bunche worked with Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to organize the 1965 march in Montgomery Alabama and worked with the NAACP and other organizations to further civil rights work. Although he never attempted to lead any of these groups, he often gave speeches supporting civil rights.

As WWII drew to a close, Bunche started working on the situation between the Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East. When the UN's proposed partition plan fell apart and the mediator was assassinated, Bunche stepped in as Acting U.N. Mediator on Palestine. After 11 months of hard work, an armistice was signed between the Jews and Palestinians. When Bunche came home, he was greeted with a ticker tape parade in New York City, a "Ralph Bunche Day" in Los Angeles, the Spingarn prize from the NAACP, over 30 honorary degrees and most notably, the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize. Bunche went on to serve as U.N. Undersecretary-General and later resigned due to failing health. He died of natural causes on Dec. 9, 1941.

Information has been compiled from nobelprize.org.