"...where it all began for me": UCLA
"UCLA was where it all began for me, where in a sense I began. College for me was the genesis and the catalyst."
-- Remarks at the dedication of Ralph Bunche Hall on May 23, 1969
Ralph Bunche enrolled at UCLA in 1922, then known as the
Southern Branch of the University of California and located on Vermont Avenue. In his remarks at the dedication of Bunche Hall, he recalled the impetus: "I had no burning desire to go to college. As a matter of fact, I was able to make good money as a carpet-layer. Actually, I came to the Vermont Avenue campus that opening day in the fall of 1923, only because of the insistence of a very wise and determined maternal grandmother, for whom I had the greatest love and respect."
In response to a 1966 request from the editor of the
Daily Bruin to contribute an article about UCLA for a special edition, Bunche shared a few
personal recollections of the old campus, including "its ivy covered buildings. . . . I spent a little time and earned some much needed cash trimming that ivy . . . , and so I had a very special interest in it and remember it perhaps more vividly than some of my contemporaries at the University."
Ralph Bunche playing
basketball, 1926-27
The recipient of an academic scholarship, Bunche played on the football team until a leg injury forced him to switch to basketball. Although Bunche acknowledged that he was not a natural athlete, his competitive instinct and his dedication to team play would serve him well throughout his life.
In addition to his athletic endeavors, Bunche excelled academically at UCLA and considered pursuing the study of law, a common professional route for blacks at that time. And during his senior year, he worked at the school newspaper and as sports editor of the yearbook.
Script for "Across the Generation Gap,"
1926-27
Bunche was actively involved with oratory and debate both on campus and off. In "Across the Generation Gap," a speech delivered to an audience of mostly black adults, he ranged from confronting the generation gap to criticizing blind allegiance to the Republican Party to condemning racial discrimination and segregation in blunt, angry terms: "Any Los Angeles Negro who would go bathing in that dirty hole [a segregated swimming pool] with that sign -- ‘For Colored Only’, gawking down at him in insolent mockery of his Race, is either a fool or a traitor to his kind."
Discrimation also surfaced on campus. When the official debating society refused to accept him as a member, Bunche and his friends formed the Southern Branch Debating Society, and he served as president. In "May He Dwell in Peace," a speech for the society, he anticipated his later efforts with the United Nations: "The proposal which I would present as an antidote for world ‘war-poisoning’ is centered about two basic principles, essential, believe, to any rational peace plan. These are International Organization, involving every nation of the world; and the full development of the ‘International Mind or Will.’"
Ralph Bunche in
graduation robes, 1927
In 1927 Bunche graduated
summa cum laude with a degree in political science. As the top student in his graduating class, he was named valedictorian and selected to deliver the commencement address. In his 1966
letter to the editor of the Daily Bruin, he recalled the role
C.H. Rieber, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, played in his selecting the topic of the speech: "Dean Rieber could always be counted on for sage advice. When, therefore, I was given the assignment of making a commencement speech in June 1927, I went immediately to consult with him as to a suitable topic for the speech. . . . So he handed me a volume of poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay and advised me to go down to the beach, lie on the sand, read the poems and reflect, and he was sure that I would find a suitable subject."
In the speech, "The Fourth Dimension of Personality," Bunche focused on the need to develop a spiritual, visionary, philosophical component in order to fully realize one’s personality. His comments also foreshadowed his later efforts with the United Nations:
Man professes strict moral codes; promulgates them through great educational systems; and solidifies them in is law. But invariably his subsequent deeds belie and pervert his original intent. He conjures up bitter prejudices, petty jealousies and hatreds against his fellow-men. The world is periodically scourged and scarred by fiendish wars. Man learns and knows but he does not do as well as he knows. This is his weakness. The future peace and harmony of the world are contingent upon the ability -- yours and mine -- to effect a remedy.
Ralph and Ruth Bunche with
Lew Alcindor (Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar), 1969
Although Bunche never again lived in California after leaving in 1927 to pursue an advanced degree at Harvard University, he treasured his connections with UCLA, and the university, in turn, honored him as one of its most distinguished alumni.
Honors from UCLA
