Ralph Bunche, UN Trusteeship, and the 1947 HU Conference on Trusteeship

• In Event: The Howard School of International Affairs: Theory and Practice

Abstract

In April 1947, Howard University’s Division of Social Sciences convened its 10th Annual Conference. The topic was “Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories.” Participants included Eleanor Roosevelt; Howard Professors E. Franklin Frazier, Rayford Logan and Merze Tate; Max Yergan of the Council on African Affairs; George Middleton, Esq. from the South African embassy; and W.E.B. DuBois. Approximately 2,100 people attended. Ralph Bunche, who was preparing for the UN Trusteeship Council’s first Visiting Mission to Africa, came to campus the following month to deliver a Howard Forum Lecture on “The United Nations and the Colonial Problem.” This cauldron of Black internationalism epitomizes the unique blend of scholarship and civic engagement practiced at the intersection of race and international affairs at Howard University at that time. An analysis of the Conference Proceedings sheds light on the institutional infrastructure that enabled the epistemic community referred to as The Howard School of International Affairs to reach beyond its elite academic audiences and also connect with the adult education constituencies serviced by Alain Locke’s Bronze Booklet Series.

Author

• Pearl T. Robinson, Tufts University