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Fri, 09.22.1950

The First Black Person Receives the Nobel Peace Prize

*On this date in 1950, Ralph Bunche received the Nobel Prize for Peace. He was awarded the prize for successfully mediating a series of armistice agreements between the (then) new nation of Israel and four Arab neighbors: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

It was the first and one of the few times that all the parties to the Middle East conflict signed armistice agreements with Israel. By being awarded the Peace Prize, Bunche became the first black and the first non-white person in the world to be so honored.

At the time of the presentation, he was a Professor at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA., a Director of the UN Division of Trusteeship, and an Acting Mediator in Palestine.

New Poem Each Day

Poetry Corner

I have sown beside all waters in my day. I planted deep, within my heart the fear That wind or fowl would take the grain away. A BLACK MAN TALKS OF REAPING by Arna Bontemps.
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