One of UCLA’s most distinguished alumni, Ralph Johnson Bunche (1903–71), fought poverty and racism on his way to becoming one of the 20th century’s leading peacemakers. The world honored him in 1950 with the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reach a settlement between the Arabs and Israelis in the Middle East, but that was only one exceptional accomplishment in an extraordinary life dedicated to achieving harmony and equality among all people, regardless of nationality or race.
“‘ ... the great good that is in us’: A Centenary Celebration of Ralph J. Bunche,� an online exhibit accessible at www.library.ucla.edu/bunche, celebrates Bunche’s remarkable legacy by focusing on his accomplishments in three main areas: as a student, a scholar and a diplomat. It is organized in conjunction with the international celebration of the centenary of Bunche’s birth.
The exhibit features personal letters, official correspondence, diary entries, family photos, scripts for speeches, manuscripts for articles and links to the UCLA Library and external resources, among other materials. The exhibit draws primarily from the Ralph J. Bunche papers and the Brian Urquhart Collection of Material about Ralph Bunche, both held by the Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections.
The exhibit begins with Bunche’s childhood in Detroit, Albuquerque and Los Angeles. In this section, visitors can view family and school photos, read personal letters and reminiscences, and see sheet music of a song Bunche learned from his mother.
Bunche earned an athletic scholarship to attend UCLA, where he enrolled in 1923 at what was then known as the Southern Branch of the University of California. The exhibit features historic photos of the campus, which was located on Vermont Avenue; photos of Bunche playing basketball; and a 1966 letter to the Daily Bruin in which Bunche recalls his college days. He was very involved with oratory both on- and off-campus, and visitors can also read his handwritten script for a 1926–27 speech he gave to an audience of mostly black adults.
UCLA honored its famous alumnus several times. Visitors can read the full text of the address he gave at UCLA’s 1950 commencement exercises, turn the pages of the booklet published when Ralph Bunche Hall was dedicated in 1969 and view historic photos from both occasions, including an amusing picture of Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) with Bunche and his wife.
Bunche earned a fellowship from Harvard University, where he completed his master’s degree in political science in 1928. Visitors can read a personal letter to UCLA Dean C.H. Rieber in which Bunche announces his intention to pursue an academic rather than legal career, and the manuscript for his first published article, which appeared in the National Municipal Review in 1928.
Howard University recruited Bunche to establish its political science department, and shortly after arriving in Washington, D.C., he met his future wife, Ruth. In this section, visitors can see family photos of Bunche and his wife and their three children, Joan, Jane and Ralph Jr. While teaching at Howard, Bunche simultaneously worked on his Ph.D. at Harvard; when he received it in 1934, he became the first black to earn this advanced degree in political science in the United States. Bunche published extensively during this period, and this section contains links to a number of his articles, including one written for a 1935 issue of UCLA’s Southern Alumnus magazine.
In 1939 Bunche began to work with Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal on a project to survey the conditions of blacks in America, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation. He spent two years on the project, which resulted in the landmark work “An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy.� Visitors can read the extensive questionnaire survey participants were asked to complete and see reviews of the book, which was praised by popular, academic and black publications.
Bunche worked for the United States government during World War II, and as part of the State Department’s postwar planning group, he participated in the planning of a world organization. He was a member of the U.S. delegation to the 1945 conference at which the United Nations charter was drafted, to the U.N. Preparatory Commission in London later that year and to the first session of the U.N. General Assembly held in London in early 1946. Visitors can view his own tattered personal copy of the U.N. Charter and read the draft of a resolution he introduced by working through the Chinese delegation to create a committee on non-self-governing territories.
In December 1946, Bunche joined the U.N. as director of the Trusteeship Division, which dealt with colonies and territories. However, shortly thereafter he was assigned by the secretary-general to the Special Committee on Palestine, which was investigating the unrest that had broken out following the withdrawal of the British troops. Chosen to assist mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, Bunche traveled to Palestine in 1948 to negotiate an armistice between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and following Bernadotte’s assassination in September 1948, he took over as mediator. Visitors can view historic photos and Bunche’s official U.N. identification card and read personal letters and official press releases on this momentous mission, for which Bunche earned the Nobel Peace Prize.
Bunche was in the U.N. Delegates’ dining room in September 1950 when he learned that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in Palestine. Visitors can view a photograph of him being presented with the medal and read the handwritten script of his acceptance speech and the text of the lecture he presented the following day. A particularly touching memento is the handmade certificate Bunche’s seven-year-old son made to congratulate his father on this honor.
Bunche undertook a number of other peace missions for the U.N. throughout the ensuing years. One particularly challenging one was in the Congo, and visitors can read the handwritten letter he wrote to his son in July 1960 in which he describes the troops downstairs in the hotel lobby and his fears for his life.
The exhibit also features photos of Bunche in Yemen, which he visited in 1963 on a fact-finding mission to investigate a conflict between royalist and republican forces, and in Cyprus, where he organized a peacekeeping force to quell conflicts between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
During his presidential campaign John F. Kennedy had asked Bunche to serve as an adviser, and Bunche also had been asked several times to become a part of the administration. Although he declined all these invitations, Bunche admired Kennedy a great deal. Visitors can view a photo of Kennedy and Bunche taken when the president came to address the U.N. General Assembly in September 1963 as well as a photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson presenting Bunche with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive from the U.S. government, on Dec. 6, 1963. Bunche had learned in October that Kennedy had selected him as a recipient, and, despite Kennedy’s assassination, the presentation ceremony went ahead as planned, with the White House still draped in mourning. Bunche was the first UCLA alumnus to receive this honor.
Bunche’s involvement with civil rights issues was a constant theme throughout his life, from episodes of discrimination he experienced personally to scholarly works he wrote on discriminatory practices to the support he lent to Martin Luther King Jr., and other activists. The exhibit documents this involvement through photographs, articles, letters, speeches, diary entries, memos and telegrams.
This exhibit has been organized by Ruby Bell-Gam, Research Library African studies bibliographer; Ellen Broidy, Research Library Anglo-American history bibliographer; Norma Corral, Research Library reference librarian; Genie Guerard, manuscripts librarian, Research Library Department of Special Collections; Roberta Medford, Research Library social science bibliographer; Josh Paddison, research assistant, Research Library Department of Special Collections; and Dawn Setzer, director of Library Communications.