Ralph Johnson Bunche was born in Detroit in 1903. He grew up
surrounded by a supportive extended family that included his
parents, his aunts and uncles and his maternal grandmother,
Mrs. Lucy Taylor Johnson, the matriarch of the family.
The Johnsons were a musical family. Ralph's aunts and uncles
formed The Johnson Quartette. Ralph's mother, Olive, accompanied
the vocalists on the piano.
The family lived in an integrated section of Detroit. In 1914,
when they moved to Albuquerque, there were many Native Americans
and Mexicans among Ralph's school friends, where he was one
of two black students in a class of 36.
Ralph did well in school, but liked to talk, a habit his teacher,
Miss Emma Belle Sweet, tried to discourage by making him stand
in a corner with his face to the wall or giving him a rap over
the knuckles. Bunche credited Miss Sweet's geography lessons
for opening up the world to him. Years later, he joined in honoring
her with a "Golden Key Award" and a check for $1,000 "for lifetime
dedication to children."
Ralph's mother, Olive, wrote poems which were published in the
local paper. The money allowed her to take Ralph to the occasional
In October, 1916, unable to find a steady job as a barber, Ralph's
father left Albuquerque to look for work. He never returned.
His mother's death the following year and the suicide of his
favorite uncle, Charlie, brought the first chapter of Ralph's
life to a painful close.
His grandmother, Nana, moved the family to Los Angeles to start
a new life, where Ralph's Uncle Tom rents a house in a white