As Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch announced he will be leaving his role by the end of the year, Democrats in Congress praised him for trying to show the “full history” of America.
Bunch was the first African American and the first historian to be appointed to the role. He has led the institution during a fraught time, as it faces ongoing pressure to conform its content to the White House’s vision.
“I have spent nearly half of my life working at and being part of the Smithsonian family, and what a privilege it has been,” Bunch said in a statement Tuesday. “I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”
Bunch has worked for the Smithsonian since 1978, when he joined the institution as an educational specialist at the National Air and Space Museum. He went on to become the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and was appointed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to lead the broader institution in 2019.
“One of my goals as Secretary was for the Smithsonian to increase our reach in education, in scholarship, in scientific research. I believe we should be in every home and classroom in the country,” Bunch testified in December 2023 at a House Administration Committee oversight hearing.
