Aug. 7, 1904
Diplomat Ralph Bunche was born in Detroit. He was a member of the “Black Cabinet,” which President Franklin D. Roosevelt consulted on minority issues.
After heading the Howard University Political Science Department for more than 20 years, he went to the United Nations and served as its mediator on Palestine. After negotiating the 1948 armistice agreements between Israel and the Arab states, he returned home to receive a ticket-tape parade on Broadway. In 1950, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Bunche took part in the civil rights movement for decades, served on the NAACP board and helped Martin Luther King Jr. lead the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 in Alabama.
“To make our way, we must have firm resolve, persistence, tenacity,” he said. “We must gear ourselves to work hard all the way. We can never let up.”
The post On this day in 1904 appeared first on Mississippi Today.
- China resumes US soybean purchases under trade deal with Trump, but future for farmers remains ‘daunting’ - July 5, 2026
- Civil rights veteran the Rev. Ed King, who helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, has died - July 5, 2026
- America’s civil service protections were born from ‘Death by Lightning’ and put in jeopardy by Supreme Court - July 5, 2026