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Home , Arthur Penn, Bob Hope, Brock Peters, Christopher Reeve, Estelle Parsons, Herbert Berghof

: AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY Narrated by

"I have a deep-seated bias against hate and intolerance. I have a bias against racial and religious bigotry. I have a bias against war, and a bias for peace. I have a bias that leads me to believe in the essential goodness of my fellow man, which leads me to believe that no problem of human relations is ever insoluble."

— Ralph J. Bunche Nobel Laureate, 1950

A DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL FOR PUBLIC TELEVISION

Major Funding Provided by:

The Ford Foundation The National Endowment for the Humanities The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation The Corporation for Public Broadcasting The National Black Programming Consortium and Camille O. Cosby and William H. Cosby, Jr.

Produced by PRODUCTIONS, INC. RALPH BUNCHE: AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY

FACT SHEET

RALPH BUNCHE: AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY is a network television special produced by William Greaves Productions Inc. on the life and times of Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche. The two- hour documentary will be presented to public television stations nationwide by SCETV (South Carolina), one of the nation's top public television programmers. The production, narrated by Sidney Poitier, is expected to be broadcast in February 2001. After the initial telecast, the film, along with an expanded, more comprehensive 4-hour version, will be distributed on videocassette to the educational communities of America, as well as to television systems internationally.

The production has been awarded major grants by the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Camille O. Cosby and William H. Cosby, Jr. It has also received financial support from the National Black Programming Consortium and other public and private foundations, and is being sponsored by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Ralph Bunche (1903-1971) was the first African-American and the first to win the an honor he received in 1950 in recognition of his successful mediation of the Armistice Agreements between the Arab nations and . It was the first and only time in the long history of the Middle East conflict that peace agreements were signed by all of the nations involved. For almost two decades, as Undersecretary General of the , Bunche was celebrated worldwide for his contributions to humanity, particularly in the areas of , , human rights, and civil rights. A little known fact is that Bunche was the chief drafter of the sections of the U.N. Charter that deal with trusteeship and decolonization at the San Francisco Conference of 1945. Almost a quarter century after his death and over fifty years after the founding of the United Nations, mention of the remarkable life and legacy of this outstanding American has been virtually absent from the print and electronic media of America. RALPH BUNCHE: AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY will seek to correct this glaring oversight.

William Greaves is producing, writing and directing both productions. The Emmy award- winning independent filmmaker is known nationally and internationally for his award-winning documentaries on the African-American experience. Chief Advisor on the project is Sir , Bunche's closest colleague and his successor as Under Secretary-General of the U.N. Urquhart's recent biography Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey. (W.W. Norton, 1993) is the primary resource for the project.

For more information, contact Louise Arthur at: WILLIAM GREAVES PRODUCTIONS, INC. 230 West 55th Street, , NY 10019 Tel: (212)265-6150 Fax: (212)315-0027 RALPH BUNCHE: AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY

INTERVIEW LIST

NNAMDIAZIKIWE First President of Nigeria, student of Ralph Bunche at during the 1930's.

AMIRI BARAKA Poet, writer, political activist and commentator.

VINCENT J. BROWN Former Head of the Department, Howard University; student of Ralph Bunche at Howard University in the 1930's.

JUDGE WILLIAM BRYANT Former student of Ralph Bunche at Howard University.

JOAN BUNCHE Oldest child of Ralph Bunche, formerly with the United Nations.

RALPH BUNCHE, JR, Only son of Ralph Bunche, now living in .

HERSCHELLE CHALLENOR Former executive of UNESCO, first African-American woman to head a major UN program.

KENNETH B. CLARK Noted social scientist and Professor of Psychology Emeritus at CUNY; student of Ralph Bunche at Howard University during the 1930's.

JOHN HENRTK CLARKE Former Professor of Black Studies, Hunter College.

JOHN A. DAVIS Professor of Political Science, City University of New York; former teaching colleague of Ralph Bunche.

TODD DUNCAN Broadway musical and concert star, Howard University teaching colleague and friend of Ralph Bunche.

ABBA EBAN Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States

ROBERT EDGAR Professor of African Studies, Howard University.

WALTER EYTAN Former Israeli Foreign Minister, Chief Israeli Negotiator at the 1949 Arab-Israeli Armistice talks in .

LAWRENCE FINKELSTEIN Professor, Political Science, Northern Illinois University; former colleague of Bunche in the US State Department.

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN Noted Professor of History at Duke University.

ERNEST GROSS Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

ROBERT HARRIS Professor of History, .

CHARLES HENRY Professor of African-American Studies, UC Berkeley, former President of the American Chapter of ; author of Ralph Bunche: Model Negro or American Other and editor of Ralph J. Bunche:Selected Speeches and Writings.

ROBERT HILL Professor of Black Studies, University of at . JONATHAN HOLLOWAY Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Yale University; his doctoral dissertation on black intellectuals in the New Deal Era is soon to be published.

DR. ABDEEN JABARA Lawyer and advocate for Palestinian rights.

JOHN H. JOHNSON Chairman, Johnson Publications, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines.

THOMAS KANZA Congolese Ambassador to the U.N. and Chief Advisor to Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.

BEN KEPPEL Historian, University of Oklahoma. Author of The Work of Democracy.

DAVID LEVERING LEWIS Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Professor of History at Rutgers University.

F.T. LIU Former Assistant Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs. Assistant to Ralph Bunche during the Congo Crisis.

WILLIAM MASHLER Former Assistant Secretary General of the U.N. and Assistant to Ralph Bunche.

DONALD MC HENRY Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

M.T. MEHDI President, Arab-American Relations Committee.

W. OFUATEY-KODJOE Professor of Political Science at City University of New York.

BENJAMIN RIVLIN Professor Emeritus at City University of New York, Director of Ralph Bunche Institute of the U.N., CUNY; former assistant to Ralph Bunche at the OSS and U.N. colleague.

ARTHUR SCHLESINGER, JR. Noted historian, Professor of History Emeritus City University of New York; former colleague of Bunche at OSS.

EDWIN SMITH Professor of International Studies, University of Southern California.

HAROLD STASSEN Former Governor of Minnesota, member of the U.S. delegation to the 1945 San Francisco Conference.

JANE JOHNSON TAYLOR First cousin of Ralph Bunche, custodian of the Johnson-Bunche family archives.

SHI BRIAN URQUHART Former chief assistant to Ralph Bunche at the UN and his successor as Under Secretary-General of the U.N. (1971-1986). Author of Ralph Bunche: An American Life (NY: Norton, 1993). Chief Advisor on Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey.

RONALD WALTERS Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland; Former Head of the Political Science Department, Howard University.

ROBERT WEAVER Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Cabinet of President Lyndon Johnson; friend of Ralph Bunche since Harvard graduate school days.

DOXEY WILKERSON Sociologist, former Howard University colleague of Ralph Bunche. WILLIAM GREAVES

WILLIAM GREAVES is executive producer/director and writer of RALPH BUNCHE: AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY, a 2-hour PBS television special narrated by Sidney Poitier. Greaves left an acting career as a featured actor on Broadway, in television, and in films, to work behind the camera on the production staff of The National Film Board of Canada. Since his return to America, as an independent filmmaker, he has earned more than seventy international film festival awards, an Emmy, and four Emmy nominations. In 1980 he was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and was the recipient of a special "homage" at the first Black American Independent Film Festival in Paris that same year. Greaves is also the recipient of an "Indy," the Special Life Achievement Award of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, a nationwide organization.

Greaves has produced more than 200 documentary films, and for two years was executive producer and co-host of the ground-breaking public affairs network television series BLACK JOURNAL, for which he won an Emmy. His documentary films have been narrated and hosted by such well-known actors and performers as , Sidney Poitier, , , , , Gil Noble, Al Freeman Jr., Ricardo Montalban, , , and Marie Osmond.

Most recently, William Greaves produced, directed and wrote IDA B. WELLS: A PASSION FOR JUSTICE, featuring Nobel Prize winner , for the PBS television series THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. The film has received more than 20 film festival awards. Among the many other outstanding films his company has produced is the documentary IN THE COMPANY OF MEN, winner of 8 film festival awards, and FROM THESE ROOTS, winner of twenty-two film festival awards and a classic in African-American studies. The film, a social, political and cultural exploration of the Renaissance of the 1920s, has aired on PBS and NBC.

In addition to making documentaries, Greaves was executive producer for ' hit motion picture BUSTIN' LOOSE, starring and . He also produced, wrote, and directed three other feature films: ALI. THE FIGHTER, starring and , THE MARIJUANA AFFAIR, starring Calvin Lockhart and Ingrid Wang, and the recently rediscovered and highly-acclaimed avant-garde feature, : TAKE ONE. The latter has been shown at numerous festivals including the Sundance, Munich, San Sebastian (Spain), Sydney, Paris, San Turino (Italy), Graz (Austria), Goteberg (), film festivals, and, more recently, the Hamptons International Film Festival.

Greaves' commitment to chronicling the lives and concerns of African has been demonstrated throughout his career. Prominent among such works are THE FIRST WORLD FESTIVAL OF NEGRO ARTS, a documentary that records the historical gathering in Dakar, of major Black artists and intellectuals from the African diaspora; BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: THE LIFE AND LEGACY, aired on Westinghouse Television; : AN AMERICAN LIFE, aired on the Central Educational Network; IN AMERICA: MYTH OR REALITY?, aired on PBS; and STILL A BROTHER INSIDE THE NEGRO MIDDLE CLASS, which aired on the National Educational Television Network and won the Blue Ribbon Award at the American Film Festival, and was nominated for an Emmy. The latter two documentaries profiled successful working in professions which, historically, had not been associated with African Americans.

For the stage, Greaves directed, as well as co-produced with , Jr. and Joseph Papp, the celebration of Paul Robeson's 90th birthday at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway in 1988. The multimedia theatrical event featured a host of celebrities, including Bill Cosby, Sidney Poitier, Lena Home, Christopher Reeve, Ossie Davis, Christopher Plummer, Toni Morrison, Max Roach, and The Dance Theatre of Harlem and other notables.

Greaves began his career as a professional actor, playing the lead in the Shubert Production, A YOUNG AMERICAN. Between 1946 and 1952 he was a featured actor on Broadway, on television, and in films. He was featured in the motion picture LOST BOUNDARIES starring Mel Ferrer, Beatrice Pearson and Canada Lee, co-starred in SOULS OF SIN and played the romantic lead in MIRACLE IN HARLEM. He was also a featured actor in the Broadway stage hit , which starred Todd Duncan and was directed by Rueben Mamoulian.

A long-time member of The in New York, William Greaves was honored by the Studio in 1980 as a recipient of its first Dusa award, together with Robert DeNiro, , , , , , , , , , and among others. Along with his production work in films, he taught acting for film and television for the late from 1969 to 1982 at the Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. During this period he, along with film directors and Arthur Penn and actors , Herbert Berghof, Shelley Winters, and , occasionally substituted for Mr. Strasberg as moderator of the Actors Studio sessions. A member of the Studio's board of directors, he currently moderates the sessions at the Studio along with Estelle Parsons, Lee Grant, Ellen Burstyn and Arthur Penn. Greaves has also screened his films, conducted workshops and given lectures for film directors, actors and the general public at major universities and cultural centers in the United States, as well as in India, China, West and East Africa, Japan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the West Indies. He has served as a judge on numerous film panels in America and abroad and, as a member of the Arts Advisory Committee of The Princess Grace Foundation, he is the Chairman of its film panel.

In addition to the production of documentaries, television programs, and feature films, his company, William Greaves Productions, Inc., distributes its own library of educational films and videos to television systems, universities, colleges, libraries, cultural organizations and schools throughout the country and abroad.

William Greaves is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Entertainment in America and Who's Who in Black America.

For more information, contact Louise Arthur at: WILLIAM GREAVES PRODUCTIONS, INC. 230 West 55th Street New York, NY 10019 Tel: (212) 265-6150 Fax: (212) 315-0027 The Ford Foundation

FALL 1993 The life and legacy of Ralph Bunche take on fresh meaning in Brian Urquhart 's new biography

carcely more than 20 years after his death in , Ralph SBunche has passed almost com- pletely from the nation's consciousness. This is a strange fate for a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was once known around the world for his role in resolv- ing international conflicts. When Bunche is remembered, the recollection is sometimes tinged with strong criticism. This stems mainly from his stance as a top-ranking United Na- tions civil servant charged with trying to bring together warring factions in some of the world's most intractable dis- putes—notably the Congo (now Zaire) in the early . At the time, Bunche troops in the Allied invasion of North American in Smith Africa: The Travel Notes came under fire from the Soviet Union .Africa in World War II. .And it was of Ralph J. Bum-he (28 September 1937- and some of Moscow's African allies for Bunche who was the principal author of l January 1938), from University failing to give .Africa's "true" nationalists two chapters of the U.N. Charter—on Press. The other is Brian Urquhart's bi- his unswerving support. Here at home, trusteeship and non-self-governing ographv Ralph Bunche: An American Life, his seemingly Olympian perch from his territories. It was also he who devised from Norton. With Urquhart's skillful, office on the 38th floor of the U.N. the machinery to expedite the massive vigorous study, in particular, we begin headquarters led many African-Ameri- move toward decolonization that soon to see something of the full range of can militants to question his commit- swept across the developing world. .As Bunche's considerable achievement and ment to the . for being aloof from civil rights issues, what we lose in denying Bunche his There is considerable irony to both Bunche was one of the founders of the rightful place in history. charges. Bunche was one of America's National Negro Congress in the — •Urquhart worked closely with Bunche earliest authorities on colonialism in at the time, he thought the N'AACP was at the highest echelons of the United .Africa—which he had experienced too tame. Nations for over 17 vears. The two were close-up during scholarly research in The recent publication of two books so close, in fact, that Bunche selected both and on .Africa's West about Bunche should lead to a fresh Urquhart to be executor of his notes, pa- Coast in the 1930s. It was Bunche who look at his life and legacv. One is an edi- pers, and letters upon his death in 1971. drafted the briefmsr book for American tion bv Robert R. Edgar. An African What did Bunche accomplish!- Until

16 Ford Foundation REPORT/FALL 1993 he began his efforts on behalf of the Southwest (Albuquerque), and the West graduated from L'CLA, he sounded a cry United Nations, his most distinguished (Los Angeles). Although he knew segre- of racial pride and confidence that work was almost certainly his research gation and other forms of racism, he might have come from die most ebul- and writing for 's An grew up in unsegregated neighbor- lient of the New Negroes. Of black American Dilemma (1944), in which his hoods and attended unsegregated Americans of his age Bunche declared: contribution was crucial by all accounts. schools. Bunche therefore may have "We have youth—we have racial pride and This effort, which fused Bunche's abili- been predisposed to take a sunnier, we have indomitable will'and boundless ties as a scholar with his perspective and more expansive view of America and, optimism for the future—so we can't feelings as a black American, neverthe- I would say, of human nature. help but come out on top of the heap! less pales in comparison to his efforts as As Brian Urquhart points out, ... We'll make you all proud of the a U.N. worker, first in the trusteeship Bunche was fortunate, too, in his family, young Negro." area and then in virtually all the places although his mother died when he was If Bunche was not directly involved that defined the term "international cri- 13 and his father disappeared not long for most of his life in the American sis" in the post-World War II era. At the after her death. While the family knew struggle for civil rights for blacks, he was top were undoubtedly his efforts at me- diation in Palestine after the assassina- tion of his superior, Count Bernadotte; it was Bunche's success in brokering an We should restore Bunche's reputation armistice between Israel and its Arab neighbors that won him the Nobel Prize. But he also served with incompa- not so much for his sake as for our own. rable skill, according to close observers, in fierce international conflicts in the His fall from prominence is tragic., but the Suez, Lebanon, the Congo, , , Kashmir, the Dominican Re- loss is much more ours than his. public, , die Sinai, and Biafra.

unche lived out one of the persis- tent dreams of the African-Ameri- all about scrimping and saving, and strongly devoted, to the point of obses- Bcan intellectual down through about unemployment, poverty, illness, sion, to related questions of social jus- history—the dream of transcending the and despair to the point of suicide (an tice pursued on an international scale. limits placed on black influence by slav- uncle shot himself to death), there was And yet his view of the .American civil ery and segregation and thereby ex- the knowledge of a 200-acre farm in Illi- rights battle was forthright: "I have an tending the African-American presence nois that had been in the family since obligation," he asserted in 1951, at the into the wider world. Instead, blacks the 1840s. There was also more than height of his international fame, "to were made to be mere onlookers at the enough family strength of character and carry on that struggle." His racial pride, spectacle of American foreign policy. good sense, learned especially from his especially as manifested in his commit- A few African Americans, like Frederick maternal grandmother. And Bunche re- ment to the civil rights cause but also as Douglass, traveled in Europe and repre- membered key words of his mother that shown in his lifelong feeling for heroes sented their people there. Others, like were his marching orders for life: of color, from and Paul John Mercer Langston and James Wei- "Ralph, don't let anything take away Robeson to and Willie don Johnson, enjoyed brief stints as con- your hope and faith and dreams." Mays, apparently never diminished. In sular representatives of the United In contrast to the idea that Bunche 1959, writing abotit his "ethnic roots" as States, almost always in poor "colored" was ashamed of his race, his feelings of a black, he flatly declared: "I have alwavs nations, such as Haiti. Until recently, racial pride, albeit of a refined kind, had a deep pride in those roots." however, Bunche was virtually alone persisted to the end of his life. In the among black Americans in achieving a 1920s, he certainly heard the same heer competitiveness with whites, genuinely international dimension. Per- drummer to which New Negroes across of the kind described so powerfully haps because he did so outside the the United States were marching, a syn- Sby Du Bois at the start of The Souls United States and under the aegis of the copated beat that summoned at least ofBlfickFolk in 1903, was undoubtedly United Nations, he has been denied two other young blacks from Los Ange- one force that drove Bunche to succeed. proper recognition. His accomplish- les around 1925, while Bunche was at At the same time, he knew how corrosive ments, however, tvere no less real be- L'CLA, to major roles in the Harlem Re- an excess of race pride can be. In an out- cause they were diplomatic in nature or naissance. These were the poet and nov- standing example of the exquisite sense accomplished on foreign soil. elist Arna Bontemps and the novelist of balance demanded of black Ameri- VVhv did Ralph Bunche succeed and editor Wallace Thurman, who had cans in this regard, Bunche did not where others failed? For one thing, he worked together in the L.A. post office. allow racism to alienate him from the was reared in the Midwest (), the In a speech in 1927, the year Bunche highest standards of scholarship.

Ford Foundation REPORT/FALL '993 17 "UCLA." he would sav of his alma mater, "was where it all began for me; where, in a sense. I began: college for me was the genesis and the catalvst." Bunche's experiences in school, the terms of his exposure to formal educa- tion, were crucial to the person he be- came. Encountering little overt racial prejudice from teachers in Albuquerque and Los Angeles, he was able to marry race pride to academic achievement without a sense of compromise. Top- ping his class at UCLA and then develop- ing as a graduate student at Harvard, Bunche seems never to have doubted the wisdom of pursuing the life of the university academic until he was offered striking alternatives to that life, alterna- tives that were themselves based on his training as an academic.

ot so with at least two black Har- Bunche helped direct the first U.N. peacekeeping forces in the Congo (now Zaire), 1960-64. vard Ph.D.s of earlier ages, NW.E.B. Du Bois and Carter G. hero" and "a martyr in the truest and Woodson, who no doubt faced harsher noblest sense." In 1965 he marched conditions than Bunche did. In 1910 arm-in-arm with Martin Luther King, Jr., Du Bois abandoned scholarship to pur- from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. sue what he himself called "propa- But he did not hesitate to criticize other ganda," mainly with the N'AACP. prominent blacks. On ideological Woodson, who in 1926 started Negro grounds, he did not support Paul Robe- Historv Week, the precursor of Black son in his famous declaration, or gaffe, History Month, maintained a pricklv re- in Paris in 1949 to the effect that black lationship with other scholars and schol- Americans would not fight the Soviets. arly organizations, black and white. (Robeson was "radically wrong," Bunche Few black Americans of Bunche's age declared, and should stick to singing.) and earlier were able to merge with the He did not rally to Adam Clayton scholarly life as readily as he did. In a Powell, Jr.'s side when Powell's pro- letter written soon after his arrival in tracted battle with Congress led him to Cambridge, Bunche declared his inten- what Bunche took to be patterns of un- tion "to cast my lot in the realm of the seemly behavior (although he de- scholarly rather than the purely legal." nounced Powell's expulsion from And from then on, even as he broad- Congress as racist), and he distanced ened his work beyond the university, he himself from what he took to be racial- clearlv felt no conflict between his iden- ism expressed bv Powell, Stokelv tity as a trained social scientist based in Carmichael, or . Still, he was the university and his identity as an prepared to fight racism or any other Bunche with Bedouin children during a 1962 visit African American or an American. He unfair force. "I would go down fighting to U.N. peacekeeping units in Gaza. had strong moral comptmctions and before I would be pushed around and strong racial feeling, but he was never subdued," he declared in 1954. "I abhor "Congo Club," an alleged clique within less than a dedicated professional. the slave mentality, the "Uncle Tom,' the the United Nations that supposedly Despite his reputation to the con- intellectual or physical coward." served imperial interests in Africa. His trary, as Urquhart's biography demon- view of Africa was shaped by a pragmatic strates, Bunche was an ardent supporter unche's involvement in Africa spirit based on a detailed knowledge of of black civil rights. He participated in probably did as much to provoke the region, rather than on benevolent the 1963 on Washington. That > his critics as his involvement in fantasies or despondent slanderings of year, he went to Mississippi to attend the any other area. In the early 1960s, 1 it- the black past. Claude McKay had writ- funeral of Merlgar Evens, the murdered was identified bv the Soviets and other ten bitterly of Africa as the "harlot" of civil lights activist, and hailed him as "a hostile parties as a member of the the modern world. Marcus (iarvev had

18 Ford Foundation REPORT/FALL 1993 piisni^^i ; p Bi ;rMic» sir.r?i;i»w.i«—ijm*^^&mimm&- ~^: \ •'; m mmfflmm 7^mm^:^f e ^^i'aBl sonal representative" of President Hard- ing at the inauguration of the president 9JIISPIr '^Hf*^PI of Liberia). Proud to be a intellectual. Bunche also felt little of the alienation that evidenced in parts of his travel book on the Gold Coast. Black Power. Nor could Bunche join many black .American intellectuals in pretending to see nothing destructive about Patrice Lumumba's character and behavior in the Congo crisis of the earlv 1960s. "Lumumba gets worse and worse," he wrote home to his uife. Ruth, from the Congo. "He is the lowest man I have ever encountered. ... 1 hate Lu- mumba." Bunche believed stronglv in the need for the famous 'Vinds of change" that swept colonialism out of Africa. From the start, he was an active anticolonialist The 1965 march on Montgomery, Ala., began in Selma with Bunche at Martin Luther King's right hand. who knew personallv and liked many of the prominent personalities (Kenvatta, Nkrumah, and Padmore, for example) in the independence movements, but he did not lose sight of his goals and standards as a trained social scientist. He aimed for objectivity. For such atti- tudes, many who wanted a more vis- ceral, or a more doctrinaire, approach to questions of freedom, justice, and race would not forgive him.

unche could also not be forgiven by many radicals tor his attitude to the United States even as he pursued the goals of the United Nations. Although he would be unfairly assailed as a left-wing socialist bv McCarthvite forces in the , he conscientiously served his country, notablv in World

leading to the founding of the Nations.

As acting mediator in the first Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, Bunche took the secretary-general's with him, when he moved on to the chair to brief the Security Council. U.N., neither to be dictated to bv Wash- ington nor to do anything that could be seen it as the absolute site of deliverance inspired vision of cultural and political construed as disloval to his country. for black .Americans, who must go "Back unitv- to the shifting realities of colonial Gaining the confidence of various gov- to Africa." In his poem Heritage, Coun- .Africa. ernment leaders, including presidents tee Cullen wrestled emotionally ("What Bunche seemed incapable of either Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and is .Africa to me?") with the question of the ambition of Garvev or the contradic- Lyndon Johnson, he was more than the meaning of African ancestrv for tions that Du Bois betrayed by, on the once offered a position in the govern- blacks born and reared in the West. Du one hand, denouncing colonialism and. ment. To some people, this is clear evi- Bois. in his half-dozen or so Pan African on the other, by rhapsodizing about life congresses following World War I, among the black elite of Liberia on his priuciples. To Bunche. he was asserting had attempted 10 applv his Bismarck- visit I here in I92!5 las die unlikelv "per- Ins rights and accepiiiitf his duties as an

Ford Foundation REPORT' against personalities." However, his day was past. Despite Ralph Bunche: brave moves, such as his attendance at ' funeral or his speech in A Documentary 1965 outside the Statehouse in Mont- gomery, Alabama, challenging the seg- ork is now well under way regationist governor George Wallace, he rian Urquhart worked closely with on a film documenting the W found himself criticized and even Ralph Bunche—at times up to 12 life and work of Ralph Bunche. To ridiculed by radical younger blacks, who Bhours a day—for 17 years. So when be presented by South Carolina had little use for his standards of deco- he began researching a biography of the Educational Television with princi- rum or moderation. renowned diplomat, scholar, and human- pal funding from the Foundation, "I have a deep-seated bias against hate itarian 10 years ago, he did not expect any the documentary is being written, and intolerance," Bunche declared surprises. Urquhart discovered, however, produced, and directed by Emmy magnificently in 1949. "I have a bias that far from knowing everything about award-winner William Greaves. against racial and religious bigotry. I the man who was his "closest friend and Previous films by Greaves include have a bias against war; a bias for peace. mentor," he knew "extraordinarily little." From These Roots (1974), about I have a bias that leads me to believe in "Ralph was a very modest person who the in the the essential goodness of my fellow never boasted or even bothered to tell you 1920s; Booker T. Washington: The man; which leads me to believe that no about many of the things he had done," Life and the Legacy (1982); Freder- problem of human relations is ever in- Urquhart says. "So it was extremely in- ick Douglass: An American Life soluble." We should restore Bunche's teresting to find this tremendous quantity (1984); and Ida B. Wells: A Passion reputation not so much for his sake as of material that I didn't know about before. for Justice (1989). The finished for our own. His fall from prominence Bunche had a far greater historical signif- work, which will be ready for air- is tragic, but the loss is much more ours icance than many people realize." ing on PBS in 1995, draws heavily than his. By the time the two met in 1945 at meet- on the notes, letters, and private With the help of Urquhart's book ings of the Preparatory Commission of the papers bequeathed by Bunche to (which demonstrates once again how United Nations, Bunche was 42 and had al- Brian Urquhart, who serves as the important biography, with all its limita- ready built a distinguished career as a film's chief adviser. tions, can be), I see now that any fair as- scholar and civil rights advocate. At Har- sessment of Bunche's life would almost vard, Bunche had earned a Ph.D. in polit- certainly recognize him as one of the ical science doing research on European American citizen. As Brian Urquhart most remarkable figures for good in the colonialism in Africa, and by World War II points out in his biography, Bunche annals of black America. Indeed, be- he was a leading American expert on the took pride in both his ancestry and his cause of what he was able to achieve in subject. Years later at the U.N., Bunche nationality. "I only ask," he said, "that his lifetime, Bunche deserves to stand as would play a central role in the postwar the one be as much respected as the an equal alongside such stalwarts of process of decolonization. While head of other." African-American history as Frederick the political science department at Howard Bunche's life ended sadly, in illness Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Martin University in the 1930s, Bunche collabo- and physical disability, and with his Luther King, Jr. These men affected the rated with Gunnar Myrdal on the ground- beloved United Nations probably at the destiny of America by their efforts on breaking study of U.S. race relations. An lowest point in its prestige to that point, behalf of their fellow blacks. Bunche, American Dilemma. He also cofounded in the aftermath of the Six-Day War be- shaped and spurred by his heritage as the National Negro Congress with A. Philip tween Israel and its neighbors. About an African American, but acting Randolph. that war Urquhart has written: "Bunche through the United Nations, which he "I had not realized what an important was seeing much of his life's work being helped to design, was one of the most voice on civil rights Bunche was in i.he destroyed within a few days." Within the important figures of this century who 1930s," says Urquhart, "and how an- United States, too, the traditional lead- worked to fashion international world guished he had become at the end of his ership of black America, with its empha- peace and order. For this accomplish- life by the troubles of the civil rights move- sis on morality, sacrifice, and the ment, he surely deserves more than ment. The Detroit and Watts riots in 1965 painstaking accretion of power and oblivion. were agony to him. He became obsessed influence in the face of racism, had be- — ARNOLD RAMPERSAD with the problems of inner-city ghettos, come almost overwhelmed by ultra- which he believed to be a disgrace to the nationalism in often crude forms. Arnold Rampersad is Professor of United States. Bunche felt it was crucial Looking back in 1967 on his own radi- Literature and director of the program in to treat these problems as an absolute na- .American Studies al . He is the cal past in the 1930s, Bunche proudly author of a two-volume biography. The Life of tional priority." noted: "I never made wild or reckless Ijingston Hughes, which won the .American Book Best known for his extraordinary work statements, never stooped to dema- Award, and most recently, Dins ufdmce: A Memoir, goguery and never indulged in insults co-written with .Arthur Ashe.

20 Ford Foundation REPORT/FALL 1993 Getting to Know a Close Friend Better

as the United Nations' chief negotiator in at the Ford Foundation. His previous books But once it was done he was not at all con- trouble spots around the world, Bunche include a biography of Dag Hammarskjoid cerned about blowing his own horn." created the first U.N. peacekeeping force. and an autobiography, A Life in Peace and In fact, Bunche is very likely the only per- "He was the model of an international civil War. He has also written extensively on son who ever tried to turn down the Nobel servant," says Urquhart. "There has never United Nations issues and is considered Peace Prize, which he was awarded in 1950 been anyone at the U.N. who was so re- an expert on U.N. operations. for his key role in negotiating the armistice spected and effective—never." As his col- Urquhart hopes his new book will re- agreements between Israel and its Arab league, Urquhart worked with Bunche vive interest in Bunche and inspire more neighbors. Bunche wrote a letter to the during such major international crises as scholarship on his life and broad range of Nobel committee explaining that he did the 1956 Suez crisis and the violent post- accomplishments. He is encouraged by not think it was appropriate to be honored independence turmoil in the Congo. the recent publication of a book that ex- simply for doing his job. He relented only Urquhart's close friendship with Bunche at the insistence of the U.N.'s first secre- began to blossom only after several years tary-general, Trygve Lie, who convinced of collaboration. "It took Bunche a long Bunche the prize would help the work of time to accept anyone who was working the United Nations. with him," Urquhart says. "So I went through an apprenticeship of being cross- espite the urging of friends and questioned, second-guessed, generally colleagues, Bunche showed no in- tested out. It was a very valuable educa- Dterest in writing about his own life. tion, because it made you ask the ques- Fortunately, he left behind a large collection tions you have to ask when you're dealing of speeches, papers, and personal notes, with very volatile and complex situations." which Urquhart, as Bunche's executor, had full access to. "I'm sure I'll be accused of ne of the great pleasures of work- not pointing out Bunche's faults and fail- ing with Bunche, Urquhart says, ings," Urquhart says. "But the truth is, I Owas to witness the intellectual pro- don't think he had very many. The more I cess that preceded every major decision. think about him the more I find that he was "Bunche had a wonderful analytical mind. the most mature human being I ever met. People would come to our office with os- Bunche set a very high standard for him- tensibly very good ideas, and my inclina- self and everyone who worked with him, tion in those days was to accept them. But and he stuck to that standard his whole he would say wait a minute, sit down. Then Brian Urquhart life. He was also a wonderful friend, ex- he would start asking questions that would tremely kind, great fun to be with, and to- last for hours. It was impossible to put over amines Bunche's experiences in South tally unpretentious. He was the real thing." a phony concept on Bunche, because he Africa in the 1930s, and by another book in One recent tribute to Bunche's lasting would take it to bits and, if necessary, in a the works that will look at Bunche's early legacy that he might have been particu- perfectly amiable way, he would point out years. Although Bunche was famous in the larly pleased with came last year, Anthony why it would never work." United States and abroad during his life- Perry, a former street-gang member in Los Like Bunche, Brian Urquhart was in- time, Urquhart believes Bunche's natural Angeles, where Bunche spent his teenage volved with the United Nations from its discretion and modesty kept him from at- and undergraduate years, asked a Univer- very beginning. Oxford-educated and fresh taining the lasting recognition he deserved. sity of Southern California librarian for ex- out of the British Army, he joined the U.N. "Bunche was one of the few people I've amples of truce agreements. He was given Secretariat in 1945 and remained there for ever met in public life who honestly didn't the 1949 Israel-Arab armistice drafted by the next 41 years. When Ralph Bunche was care about getting credit for the work he Bunche. Perry proceeded to negotiate a appointed undersecretary-general for spe- did," Urquhart says. "He was extremely truce between two rival L.A. gangs, the cial political affairs in 1954, Urquhart be- meticulous about doing a job properly to Bloods and the Crips, based almost word came his chief assistant. After Bunche's the extent that it would almost drive you for word on this document. "As far as we death in 1971, Urquhart succeeded him as crazy, because he would stay day and night know," says Urquhart, "the truce is still in undersecretary-general. Since 1986 until he was absolutely certain that he had effect." Urquhart has been a scholar-in-residence done everything possible to get it right. —THEODORA LURIE

Ford Foundation REPORT/FALL 1993 21 =^_ -/:...

HE DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL

REMARKS AT THE RALPH BUNCHE FILM SCREENING

New York, 22 June 2000

One of the greatest men ever to serve the United Nations, Ralph Bunche led a truly remarkable life. An orphan from a humble background, he rose to the heights of international diplomacy at a time when African-Americans in many areas of the United States were still required to sit in the back of the bus. From his days as a star student at UCLA and Harvard, to his pioneering work as a researcher in race studies and civil rights at Howard University, Bunche seemed destined for greatness.

What no one could have predicted was that he would put his extraordinary abilities at the service of world peace. From Cyprus to Kashmir to the Congo to the Middle East, Bunche exemplified the highest values of the United Nations Charter. In a career filled with triumphs, he is best remembered for almost single-handedly negotiating peace between Israel and Egypt in 1949, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.

In his Nobel acceptance speech, Bunche declared that "the United Nations exists not merely to preserve the peace but also to make change — even radical change — possible without violent upheaval." Bunche's life stands as testament to the ability of one man to make a difference and bring about radical change. It continues to inspire all of us who take to heart his expansive vision of the United Nations and its role in the world.

The film we are about to see will tell us more about that life. I hope it will serve as a further source of inspiration to us all. Thank you. * ROUSTING SLIP FICHE DE TRANSMISSION

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COM.6 (2-78) UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES

INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

TO: Mrs. Louise Frechette DATE: 9 June 2000 Deputy Secretary-General

THROUGH: SIC DE:

FROM: Gillian Sorenser DE: Assistant Sectary-General Office of External Relations

SUBJECT: Screening of documentary film "Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey"

Recently the Secretary-General attended a screening of a wonderful documentary film, "Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey". He was very moved by it and asked that a presentation be arranged at the United Nations. We have scheduled two screenings for Thursday, 22 June - in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium at 1:00 p.m. and in Conference Room 4 at 6:15 p.m.. The film, produced by William Greaves and narrated by Sydney Poitier, has been years in the making and will air on PBS in February 2001.

We very much hope you can attend and would like to invite vou.to sav a few words atlhe \l start of the 6:15 p.m. screening. We will give notice of the event to United Nations colleagues through the Internet, the Journal and the Secretariat Lobby postings.

/• M UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES

INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

TO: Mrs. Louise Frechette DATE: 9 June 2000 Deputy Secretary-General

THROUGH: SIC DE:

FROM: Gillian DE: Assistant Sectary-General Office of External Relations

SUBJECT: Screening of documentary film "Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey'

Recently the Secretary-General attended a screening of a wonderful documentary film, "Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey". He was very moved by it and asked that a presentation be arranged at the United Nations. We have scheduled two screenings for Thursday, 22 June - in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium at 1:00 p.m. and in Conference Room 4 at 6:15 p.m.. The film, produced by William Greaves and narrated by Sydney Poitier, has been years in the making and will air on PBS in February 2001.

We very much hope you can attend and would like to invite you.to sav a few words atlhe (I start of the 6:15 p.m. screening. We will give notice of the event to United Nations colleagues through the Internet, the Journal and the Secretariat Lobby postings. Ralph Bunche Institute oYi the United Nations

The Graduate School and University Center

The City University of New York

365 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10016-4309

TEL 212.817.2100 FAX 212.817.1582

^««e /, 2000

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AaaUt, tny tbaviku.

http://WWW.gc.CUny.edu The Graduate School and University Center is The City University of New York's doctorate-granting institution, which operates in consortium with all the CUNY campuses: o Bernard M. Baruch College ° Borough of Community College ° Bronx Community College ° Brooklyn College ° The City College ° The City University of New York Medical School ° The City University ol New York School o1 Law at College ° The College of Staten Island ° Medgar Evers College ° Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College ° Hunter College ° John Jay College of Criminal Justice ° Kmgsborough Community College ° Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College ° Herbert H. Lehman College ° Technical College ° Queens College ° Queensborough Community College = York College £il"<7T?? ^ H'

alph Bunche Institute on the United Nations

••^^••^•^•i The Graduate School and University Center @g The City University of New York 365 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10016-4309 JUH-6 TEL 212617.2100 FAX 212.817.1582

EXECUTIVE OFFICE .OFTHESECRETAIWCENERAL

May 31,2000

H.E. Secretary-General United Nations - S 3800 Mew York, M.Y. 10017

Dear Mr. Secretary-General,

Our sincerest thanks to you, your wife and daughter in participating in the Institute's evening "Remembering Ralph J. Bunche" on Tuesday, May 23rd. Your presence spurred us on to insure a large audience to view the screening of the William Greaves documentary " Ralph Bunche, An American Odyssey."

The evening was a success beyond our expectations judging by the standing ovation we received at the conclusion of the screening. One of the basic missions of the Ralph Bunche Institute on the Gnited Nations is to preserve the legacy of Ralph Bunche in his path-breaking career in the United States and the Gnited Nations. We believe that bringing this documentary to the large audience last week contributed to our living up to our mission. Your most apt comments underlined Ralph Bunche as the exemplar of the international civil servant whose contributions to the highest ideals of the Gnited Nations were greatly appreciated.

It was a pleasure to welcome you again to the CGNY Graduate Center, this time in its new quarters, and to have the chance to see some of the documentary together. We look forward to our working together again in the future.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Rivlin Harbert Director lair of the Advisory Board

cc. Ms. Gillian Sorensen Ml DEC 2 02000

http:yywww.gc.cuny.edu The Graduate School and University Center is The City University of New York's doctorate-granting institution, which operates in consortium with all the CUNY campuses' = Bernard M. Baruch College o Borough of Manhattan Community College ° Bronx Community College o Brooklyn College o The City College o The City University ol Mew York Medical School ° Tne City Unrrersity of New York School o( Law a! Queens College ° The College of Staten Island ° Medgar Erers College ° Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College o Hunter College ° John Jay College of Criminal Justice o Kmgsborough Community College o Fioreilo H. LaGuardia Community College o Herbert H. Lehman College ° New York City Technical College o Queens College ° Queensborough Community College ° York College