Acts of courage amid danger inspiring years later

By James E. Patterson

Albany Times Union Aug. 29, 2021

?In October 1963, the Albany Committee on the Observation of the 100th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation announced that Joyce Ford, an Albany High School graduate, had won its essay contest.

?The Knickerbocker News published Ford’s essay, “I Am Proud I am an American Negro.” The essay is important to me because Ford wrote about the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize recipient and U.N. diplomat Ralph Bunche, the first African-American to receive the award. I am a former U.S. diplomat raised in Alabama’s segregated schools. I am of European ancestry.

Ford wrote of how Bunche’s grandfather had been born into slavery. Bunche was raised by his grandparents.

Bunche, “representing one hundred years of progress from a slave grandfather has climbed to a great height,” Ford wrote. “The challenges that awaited him await every Negro youth of today; we, the present-day members of the Negro race, are proud of our heritage and give thanks to those who went before us, paving the way... I pledge to do my best to bring honor to my country, and my people, (as Bunche has done) all the days of my life.”

Her powerful words had an impact on me when I first read them on a New York historical newspaper website.

Bunche’s wife, Ruth Bunche, was from Montgomery, Ala. In 1965, Bunche courageously marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and others for the third Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights.

My father, a Korean War vet, served with Alabama’s Army National Guard from 1962-67, a period that included the integration of the University of Alabama in June 1963 and Selma to Montgomery March, which began March 21, 1965.

For the third march attempt, President Lyndon Johnson federalized Alabama’s Guard “for as long as necessary” for King and the marchers to make the 50-mile trek. It was necessary to prevent Alabama’s vicious Ku Klux Klan from acts of violence against the peaceful marchers.

Bunche, then 61 and in poor health, demonstrated courage by coming to Alabama in that dangerous time. Ford’s essay was written two years before Bunche’s brave decision to march at Selma. She wrote of her admiration for Bunche’s educational and diplomatic accomplishments. Ford’s words of pride, heritage, and rising to challenges still hold an important message today.

As a U.S. diplomat, I admired Bunche for these accomplishments as well. I also admired his courage to join King at Selma.

Based on his diplomatic experience, Bunche advised: “You can surmount the obstacles in your path if you are determined, courageous, and hard-working. Never be faint-hearted. Be resolute, but never bitter.” Perhaps it was those words that inspired Ford 60 years ago. Her words of pride, heritage, and rising to challenges still hold an important message today.

Bunche died in 1971. President Richard Nixon said of him: “America is deeply proud of this distinguished son and profoundly saddened by his death.” America, he said, was “strengthened by the inexhaustible measure of dedication and creative action that spanned his splendid career.”

In early 2018, I visited the resting places of Ralph and Ruth Bunche at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. It was a cold day. I was warmed, though, by Bunche’s inspiring words and Ford’s winning and inspiring essay, which I had in my coat pocket.

My father died in 2003. In 2014, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley honored him for his service to “Alabama, America and the world.” I’m proud he had, in his own way, a role in a movement that changed our nation for the better.”

Today, America continues to be challenged by race. As the 160th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation approaches, I am optimistic we will overcome today’s challenges by recalling the wisdom of Ford and Ralph Bunche.

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James E. Patterson of Washington, D.C., is a former U.S. diplomat. He appears as a reporter in the 2015 movie “Selma.”

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