While a student at UCLA during the early 1920s, he worked as a houseboy
for Charles Ray.
He was the first black person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He received it for having arranged a cease-fire between Israelis and Arabs during the war which followed the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
During World War II, Bunche became the first Afro-American to hold a top job in the State Department.