CENTENARY MISSION STATEMENT

RALPH BUNCHE  - THE LEGEND AND THE LEGACY
COMMEMORATING DR. RALPH J. BUNCHE’S CENTENARY 2003-2004

"Nobel Prize - Oslo, Norway- December 10, 1950."
Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche’s life and achievements are surely an authentic American legend.  From humble beginnings as a young black man in America, he achieved many firsts in a racially hostile social environment. He fashioned several path-breaking careers, in academia, as a civil rights leader and as a dedicated civil servant in both the United States government and the United Nations. He was to be the first African-American, or person of color of any origin, to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. He received this international honor in 1950 for his success as United Nations Mediator in bringing about the 1949 Rhodes armistices between Israel and its Arab adversaries, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
For all of Bunche’s pioneering roles in race relations, human rights, decolonization, and international mediation and  peacekeeping, his name is hardly remembered today. His legacy, however, is too important to be ignored. Hence, this centenary commemoration.
The centenary will not only pay respect to what Ralph Bunche accomplished. It will, perhaps even more importantly, underscore the relevance of his agenda for today and tomorrow.  The Centenary Committee will advance special projects to reintroduce him to America and the world.  It will endeavor to attract widespread participation in a broad range of activities toward the end of deepened understanding of his historic contributions to the United Nations and to humankind. It will hope to translate the legend, which is a gift from the past, into a legacy, which is an instrument for a better future for humanity.

"United Nations Security Council in Session in Paris, 19 October 1948. Ralph Bunche Acting U.N. Mediator for Palestine."
Ralph Bunche saw United States leadership and involvement in multilateral international organizations as essential to the goal of peace on earth. From 1946 until his death in 1971, he served the cause of peace  as an international civil servant. He had helped create the United Nations at San Francisco in 1945 and had a central role in the adoption of three forward looking chapters of the UN Charter that dealt with post-war colonialism.  For two decades, as Under-Secretary-General -- the highest post held by an American in the UN -- he played a leading role in the conception and conduct of the UN’s peacekeeping function. He was, indeed, “Mr. Peacekeeping.”
Bunche was also a scholar and an early student of Africa and the problems of race. His prize-winning dissertation on colonialism in Africa earned him a Ph.D. in government and international relations at Harvard University. His field research in Africa also contributed to his study, A World View of Race. He became a professor and first chair of the new political science department at Howard University.  He was president of the American Political Science Association. Before World War II, he was a key member of the small research team assembled by the noted Swedish scholar, Gunnar Myrdal, which produced An American Dilemma, the historic study on race in America. He was a life-long activist on race and civil rights issues. In 1936, he was a founder of  the National Negro Congress.  Late in his life, he was with Martin Luther King and other black leaders in the march on Washington, and was prominently visible in the front rank with Martin Luther King in the march from Selma to Montgomery.

"Bunche on the march from Selma to Montgomery, March 21, 1965"
Ralph Bunche was proud of his race, and he fought to advance the cause of minorities and the oppressed. His career, however, transcended racial identity. We honor him now, simply, as a great American and internationalist. The Ralph Bunche Centenary program will be a prism, enabling all who join in the enterprise to translate his record into insights and impetus toward a better future for humankind.

Participating organizations may commemorate Ralph Bunche’s life through such activities as conferences, panels at conferences, lectures, essay contests, local TV/radio programs, Ralph Bunche Day, exhibits, etc.  The organizing committee has identified the following themes that can serve as a focus of an activity:

  • The Scholar-Activist: Ralph-Bunche's Dilemma
  • Civil Rights and Race - An American Dilemma Revisited
  • The Integrity of Public Service, International and National
  • Self-Determination and Decolonization
  • Mediation, Negotiation, and Peacekeeping
  • A New Generation Looks at Ralph J. Bunche
  • Africa
  • The Arab-Israeli Conflict
  • The U.S. and Africa
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    The relevance of the Bunche legacy can perhaps best be explored by thinking about which of his qualities would be most important to replicate in the present or the next generation of engaged scholars or thoughtful practitioners:

  • The depth of his humane commitment that inspired him to help liberate "have-nots" and improve their living conditions in his work on domestic race relations and decolonization, especially in Africa;
  • His ability to manage the tension between solid scholarship and engagement in the world as demonstrated by his PhD research and work on An American Dilemma side-by-side with civil rights activism and international negotiations;
  • His "out-of-the-box" vision as demonstrated by his commitment to multiculturalism, multidisciplinarity, and internationalism before they were widespread;
  • The integrity of his public service throughout his career in the U.S. State Department and in the United Nations;
  • His acuity, persistence and patience in mediating disputes and differences and bringing diverse peoples and perspectives together; and
  • His selflessness in placing his patriotic and internationals goals first, often to the detriment of his family and certainly at great cost to his own health.
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