Ralph J. Bunche

Ralph J. Bunche (1904-1971) was an American political scientist, academic, civil rights leader, and diplomat who became the first African American Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1950 for mediating the 1949 Armistice Agreements in the Arab-Israeli conflict. He earned a PhD in political science from Harvard in 1934, chaired Howard University's Political Science Department, contributed to Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma, and played key roles in UN trusteeship and decolonization efforts, including participation in civil rights marches with Martin Luther King Jr. APSA. His notable nonfiction works include A World View of Race (1936) and his dissertation on French colonial administration.