Director of the Smithsonian Institution (born 1952)
Lonnie G. Bunch III (born November 18, 1952) is an American educator and historian. Bunch is the fourteenth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the first African American and first historian to serve as head of the Smithsonian. He has spent most of his career as a history museum curator and administrator.
Bunch was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1952[3] to Lonnie Bunch II, a science and chemistry public school teacher, and Montrose Bunch, a third-grade public school teacher,[4] both graduates of Shaw University, one of the oldest HBCUs in the South.[5] He grew up in Belleville, New Jersey, where his family were the only African Americans in their neighborhood. His grandfather, a former sharecropper, moved into the area as one of the first black dentists in the region.[6] As a child, he experienced racism from white teenagers in his neighborhood.[6] Bunch credits his childhood experiences with local Italian immigrants and his reading of biographies as a youth with inspiring him to study history. He wanted to give a voice to those who were "anonymous" or not written about. Reflecting in 2011 on the early exposures, Bunch said: "I was in junior high, and we were reading biographies of historic figures. I remember one on Gen. ‘Mad Anthony’ Wayne, and one on Clara Barton, and Dorothea Dix. I thought, ‘Were there no histories of black people?’ One day, I was going through my grandfather's trunk and I found a book about black soldiers in the First World War. I devoured it."[5]
Bunch began working at the Smithsonian Institution while completing his master's degree. After graduating, he joined the University of Maryland faculty as a history professor. In 1983, he became the first curator at the California African American Museum.[3] He worked at the National Museum of American History from 1989 until 1994 as a curator. From 1990 to 2000, he was also a professor in the Museum Studies and History departments at The George Washington University.[8] He was promoted to associate director for curatorial affairs at the museum before leaving in 2000 to become the president of one of the nation's oldest museums in history, the Chicago Historical Society (Chicago History Museum), from 2001 to 2005.[9] In Chicago he led a successful capital campaign, and promoted outreach to diverse communities. One noted exhibit, Teen Chicago, focused on teenager life.[10]
In 2005, Bunch was named the director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture.[7] As founding director he designed a program of traveling exhibitions and public events prior to the opening of the museum.[11]
He curated the National Museum of American History's exhibition The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden.[5] The exhibition was curated, built, and opened within eight months.[15]
Personal life
Bunch met his wife Maria Marable in graduate school.[16] They have two daughters.[17]
2023: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Yale University[24]
Bibliography
with Laurence P. and Martha Kendall Crouchette Winnaker, Visions Toward Tomorrow, the History of the East Bay Afro-American Community 1852–1977. Oakland: Northern California Center for Afro-American History and Life. 1989. ISBN 0-9622334-0-4
with Spencer R. Crew, Mark G. Hirsch and Harry R. Rubenstein, 2000. The American Presidency, A Glorious Burden. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 978-1560988359
with Donna M. Wells, David E. Haberstitch and Deborah Willis, 2009. The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise. Washington: National Museum of African American History and Culture. ISBN 978-1588342720
Call the Lost Dream Back: Essays on History, Race & Museums. Georgia: Big River Books. 2010. ISBN 978-1933253176
with Spencer R. Crew and Clement A. Price, 2014. Slave Culture: A Documentary Collection of the Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project. Connecticut: Greenwood. ISBN 978-1440800863
Bunch, Lonnie G. (2019). A Fool's Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the age of Bush, Obama, and Trump. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. ISBN 9781588346681. OCLC 1089275852.
Footnotes
References
^"National Museum of African American History and Culture". Archives. Smithsonian History. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
^"American Philosophical Society welcomes new members". American Philosophical Society. 2020.
^ a b c d e f"Lonnie Bunch biography". The History Makers. Education Makers. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
^Q&A with Lonnie Bunch. www.c-span.org (video). July 18, 2006. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
^ a b cdi Ionno, Mark (February 13, 2011). "N.J.'s Lonnie Bunch: History in the making at African-American Museum". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
^ a bBrown, de Neen (February 17, 2012). "Lonnie Bunch's vision for the Museum of African American History and Culture". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
^"Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III Will Give Address for GW's Commencement Celebration | GW Today | the George Washington University". GW Today. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
^"Lonnie G. Bunch named Director of National Museum of African American History and Culture". Archives. General Notes. Smithsonian Institution. March 14, 2005. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
^"Lonnie G. Bunch III". Smithsonian Institution.
^"About the Museum". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
^Dwyer, Colin (May 28, 2019). "Lonnie Bunch III set to become Smithsonian Institution's first black secretary". NPR. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
^Homan, Timothy R. (February 12, 2021). "Pentagon, Congress appoint panel members to rename Confederate base names". The Hill. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
^Kheel, Rebecca (March 2, 2021). "Commissioners tasked with scrubbing Confederate base names sworn-in at first meeting". The Hill.
^Trescott, Jacqueline (March 16, 2005). "Smithsonian taps Lonnie Bunch to be African American Museum Director". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
^"American: American University Magazine". American University. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
^"[no title cited]". Ebony magazine. Vol. 56, no. 9. July 2001.
^Traynor, Elizabeth (October 21, 2011). "Annual Jackie Robinson Night honors celebrated historian". The GW Hatchet. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
^McGlone, Peggy (May 28, 2019). "Smithsonian's new secretary, Lonnie Bunch III, faces political and financial challenges". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
^"Honorary Degrees". Brown University. Retrieved October 21, 2020.