Lonnie Bunch

‘You can’t be a historian of black America without being hopeful,’ says Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch

In this interview, Lonnie Bunch discusses the purpose of the Smithsonian in 2020, the future of museums as institutions, and his own career path.

What happened when Trump visited the African American History Museum, according to its founding director

“It was not my job to make the rough edges of history smooth, even for the president,” Lonnie Bunch writes. 

How Lonnie Bunch came to lead the Museum of African American History

"I get to get people excited about the past, I get to tell stories of resiliency of optimism, I get to actually do the thing I love most – talk about American history."

Two Museum Directors Say It’s Time to Tell the Unvarnished History of the U.S.

History isn’t pretty and sometimes it is vastly different than what we’ve been taught, say Lonnie Bunch and Kevin Gover.

Lonnie Bunch is astonished the African-American History Museum has become a pilgrimage site so fast

"You know, we thought we'd get 4,000 people a day. We're getting 6,000, 7,000, 8,000 a day. I didn't expect that.”