In honor of Black History Month, consider doing a lesson on Ralph Bunche, a lesser-known peacemaker. Bunche was born in Detroit in 1903, and orphaned at a young age and raised by his grandmother who was herself born a slave.

In 1950 Bunche was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his successful mediation of a series of truce agreements between the new nation of Israel and four Arab neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It was the first, and to date it remains the only, time that all the parties to the Middle East conflict signed armistice agreements with Israel. In being awarded the Peace Prize, Bunche became the first person of color in the world to be so honored.

Lesson plans geared to different levels are available from Nobel Peace Laureates.org and PBS – See http://www.nobelpeacelaureates.org/r_bunche.html or http://www.pbs.org/ralphbunche/ respectively.

CRE Calendar Usage: 2nd Edition