Even as a youth, Lonnie Bunch was captivated by history.

“The desire to learn, the desire to understand, was really sort of embedded in everything we did,” says Mr. Bunch, who is the son of educators.

When his family moved from Newark, N.J., to the nearby community of Belleville, they were one of only a few black families in town, and the only one in their neighborhood. Still today, Bunch remembers being treated “wonderfully” by some, yet “horribly” by others.