Lonnie Bunch

{{Short description|Director of the Smithsonian Institution (born 1952)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Lonnie Bunch

| image = File:Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie Griffith Bunch III.jpg

| caption =

| office = 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

| term_start = June 16, 2019

| term_end =

| predecessor = David J. Skorton

| successor =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|11|18}}

| birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| education = Howard University
American University (BA, MA, PhD)

| module = {{Infobox academic

|child = yes

|discipline = History of the United States
African American studies

|workplaces = {{plainlist|

}}

Lonnie Griffith 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 served as the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) from 2005 to 2019. He previously served as president and director of the Chicago History Museum (Chicago Historical Society) from 2000 to 2005.{{cite web |title=National Museum of African American History and Culture |url=http://siarchives.si.edu/history/national-museum-african-american-history-and-culture |work=Smithsonian History |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |department=Archives |access-date=8 May 2012}} In the 1980s, he was the first curator at the California African American Museum, and then a curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, where, in the 1990s, he rose to head curatorial affairs. In 2020, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.{{cite web |title=American Philosophical Society welcomes new members |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=2020 |url=https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/american-philosophical-society-welcomes-new-members-2020}}

Early life and education

Bunch was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1952 to Lonnie Bunch II, a science and chemistry public school teacher, and Montrose Bunch, a third-grade public school teacher,{{cite AV media |title=Q&A with Lonnie Bunch |website=www.c-span.org |medium=video |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?193730-1/qa-lonnie-bunch |date=July 18, 2006|access-date=2020-06-19 |language=en-us}} both graduates of Shaw University, one of the oldest HBCUs in the South. 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. As a child, he experienced racism from white teenagers in his neighborhood.{{cite news |last=Brown |first=de Neen |title=Lonnie Bunch's vision for the Museum of African American History and Culture |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/lonnie-bunchs-vision-for-the-museum-of-african-american-history-and-culture/2012/02/06/gIQAffc8JR_story.html |access-date=9 May 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=17 February 2012}} 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."{{cite news |last=di Ionno |first=Mark |title=N.J.'s Lonnie Bunch: History in the making at African-American Museum |newspaper=The Star-Ledger |date=February 13, 2011 |url=http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2011/02/lonnie_bunch_history_in_the_ma.html |access-date=8 May 2012}}

He graduated from Belleville High School in Belleville, New Jersey in 1970. Bunch attended Howard University{{cite web |title=Lonnie Bunch biography |series=Education Makers |website=The History Makers |url=http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/lonnie-bunch-39 |access-date=8 May 2012}} and later transferred to American University in, Washington, D.C., where he earned his B.A., M.A., and [https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/lonnie-g-bunch-iii Ph.D.] in American and African-American history.{{cite web |title=Lonnie G. Bunch, III, Director, NMAAHC |url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_12673 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Archives |access-date=8 May 2012}}

Career

File:Lonnie Bunch 13615-171.jpg in 2014]]

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. 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.{{cite web |url=https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-g-bunch-iii-will-give-address-gws-commencement-celebration |website=GW Today |access-date=May 3, 2024 |title=Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III Will Give Address for GW's Commencement Celebration | GW Today | the George Washington University }} 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.{{cite web |title=Lonnie G. Bunch named Director of National Museum of African American History and Culture |series=General Notes |department=Archives |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_11606 |date=March 14, 2005|access-date=8 May 2012}} In Chicago he led a successful capital campaign, and promoted outreach to diverse communities. One noted exhibit, Teen Chicago, focused on teenager life.{{cite web |title=Lonnie G. Bunch III |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |url=https://www.si.edu/about/bios/lonnie-g-bunch-iii}}

In 2005, Bunch was named the director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture. As founding director he designed a program of traveling exhibitions and public events prior to the opening of the museum.{{cite web |title=About the Museum |publisher=National Museum of African American History and Culture |access-date=19 February 2020 |url=http://go.si.edu/site/PageNavigator/mm_about}}

He also served on the Commission for the Preservation of the White House during the George W. Bush administration and was reappointed to the Commission by President Barack Obama in 2010.

On May 28, 2019, Bunch was elected secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He became the first historian and first African American to lead the Smithsonian in its 173-year history,{{cite news |last=Dwyer |first=Colin |title=Lonnie Bunch III set to become Smithsonian Institution's first black secretary |work=NPR |date=28 May 2019 |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/05/28/727497208/smithsonian-institution-names-lonnie-bunch-iii-as-its-next-secretary |access-date=28 May 2019}} he began his new role on June 16, 2019.{{Cite press release |title=Smithsonian Regents Name Lonnie Bunch 14th Smithsonian Secretary |date=27 May 2019 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |url=https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/kits/smithsonian-regents-name-lonnie-bunch-14th-smithsonian-secretary |access-date=3 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240830095029/https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/kits/smithsonian-regents-name-lonnie-bunch-14th-smithsonian-secretary |archive-date=30 August 2024}}

On February 12, 2021, Bunch was appointed to the Congressionally-mandated Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.{{cite web |last1=Homan |first1=Timothy R. |title=Pentagon, Congress appoint panel members to rename Confederate base names |url=https://thehill.com/policy/defense/538645-pentagon-congress-appoint-panel-members-to-rename-confederate-base-names |website=The Hill |access-date=13 February 2021 |language=en |date=12 February 2021}} He later withdrew from the commission for personal reasons prior to the swearing-in ceremony.{{cite web |url=https://thehill.com/policy/defense/541292-commissioners-tasked-with-scrubbing-confederate-base-names-sworn-in-at-first |title=Commissioners tasked with scrubbing Confederate base names sworn-in at first meeting |first=Rebecca |last=Kheel |work=The Hill |date=March 2, 2021}}

=Exhibits and research=

He curated the National Museum of American History's exhibition The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden. The exhibition was curated, built, and opened within eight months.{{cite news |last=Trescott |first=Jacqueline |title=Smithsonian taps Lonnie Bunch to be African American Museum Director |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=16 March 2005 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38699-2005Mar15.html |access-date=9 May 2012}}

Personal life

Bunch met his wife Maria Marable in graduate school.{{cite magazine|title=American: American University Magazine|url=https://www.american.edu/magazine/|access-date=28 May 2019|website=American University}} They have two daughters.{{cite magazine|date=July 2001|title=[no title cited]|magazine=Ebony magazine|volume=56|issue=9}}

Awards

File:Bunch and Conwill Look at NMAAHC Museum Site B.jpg at the future location of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2006]]

2011: Jackie Robinson Society Community Recognition Award {{cite news |last=Traynor |first=Elizabeth|title=Annual Jackie Robinson Night honors celebrated historian |url=http://blogs.gwhatchet.com/courtside/tag/lonnie-bunch/ |access-date= May 9, 2012 |newspaper=The GW Hatchet|date= October 21, 2011}}
2017: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2017: the NAACP's President's Award
2018: Choral Arts [Society of Washington] Humanitarian Award{{Cite web |date=2021-02-03 |title=Lonnie Bunch (2018) |url=https://choralarts.org/lonniebunch/ |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=Choral Arts |language=en-US}}
2018: Phi Beta Kappa Award for Distinguished Service to Humanity {{Cite news |title=Smithsonian's new secretary, Lonnie Bunch III, faces political and financial challenges |last=McGlone |first=Peggy |date=2019-05-28 |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/smithsonian-names-lonnie-bunch-iii-as-new-secretary-the-first-african-american-in-the-top-spot/2019/05/27/eda5138c-80a2-11e9-9a67-a687ca99fb3d_story.html |access-date=September 25, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}
2019: Honorary degree of Brown University (LHD){{cite web |url=https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/corporation/honoraries |title=Honorary Degrees |website=Brown University |access-date=21 October 2020 }}
2020: Dan David Prize{{cite web |title=Dan David Prize |year=2020 |url=https://www.dandavidprize.org/laureates/2020}}
2022: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service}}{{cite web|title= 2022 Summit |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url= https://achievement.org/summit/2022/}}
2023: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Yale University{{Cite web |title=Lonnie G. Bunch III {{!}} Yale 2023 |url=https://yale2023.yale.edu/honorary-degrees/lonnie-g-bunch-iii |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=yale2023.yale.edu}}

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}}
{{cite book |last=Bunch |first=Lonnie G. |year=2019 |title=A Fool's Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the age of Bush, Obama, and Trump |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press |isbn=9781588346681 |location=Washington, DC |oclc=1089275852}}

Footnotes

References

External links

{{C-SPAN|83702}}
{{cite AV media |publisher=C-SPAN |series=Q&A |title=interview with Bunch |date=6 August 2006 |medium=video |url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?193730-1/qa-lonnie-bunch}}
{{cite magazine |first1=Adrienne |last1=Frank |first2=Mike |last2=Unger |name-list-style=amp |date=March 2017 |title=A painful and prideful past |magazine=American University Magazine |publisher=American University |url=http://www.american.edu/magazine/article/a-painful-and-prideful-past.cfm}}
[https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/how-lonnie-g-bunch-iii-is-renovating-the-nations-attic "Lonnie G. Bunch is renovating the Nation's Attic"], The New Yorker, retrieved 12 July 2024.

{{s-ttl|order=14th|title=Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution|years=2019–present}}

Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century African-American people

Category:21st-century African-American writers

Category:21st-century American historians

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:African-American curators

Category:African-American male writers

Category:African-American museum directors

Category:American curators

Category:American male non-fiction writers