Lonnie Bunch, the first African American to lead the Smithsonian Institution, has announced he will retire from his position by the end of the year.
“It is with very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude that I announce my retirement from the Smithsonian,” said Dr. Bunch. “I have spent nearly half of my life working at and being part of the Smithsonian family, and what a privilege it has been. There is no place like the Smithsonian — it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together. I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”
The announcement follows significant conflict between the museum and the Trump administration, which claims the institution’s “current leadership and current interpretive ideology cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.”
Dr. Bunch’s career at the Smithsonian began in 1978, starting at the National Air and Space Museum and then serving in several positions with the National Museum of American History, including assistant director for curatorial affairs. Dr. Bunch briefly left the Smithsonian to serve as president of the Chicago Historical Society, but returned in 2005 to become founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) for 14 years. In 2019, was named the fourteenth secretary of the Smithsonian Institute.
As a historian, Dr. Bunch is known for his research on the African American experience and the American presidency to museum leadership and public history. He has authored several books, most recently A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump (Smithsonian Books, 2019), which chronicles the creation of the museum and the challenges involved in bringing it to life.
“It is time for my next chapter, a chapter that will allow me to continue to protect the integrity of the Smithsonian and to champion the importance of a history that illuminates and celebrates the complex story of our nation,” said Dr. Bunch. “The Smithsonian has been a reservoir of science, history, art and culture that freely allows the public to find knowledge, understanding, clarity, education, hope and a bit of joy. I will always carry the Smithsonian within me.”
After starting his undergraduate education at historically Black Howard University, Dr. Bunch received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in American and African American history from American University in Washington, D.C. Throughout his career, Dr. Bunch has held teaching positions with American University, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and George Washington University.
