Historian and curator Lonnie Griffith Bunch III, born on November 18, 1952, in Newark, New Jersey, is a distinguished scholar with a significant academic background. He was reared in Belleville, New Jersey, and graduated from Belleville High School in 1970. Bunch attended Howard University before transferring to American University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1974, a Master of Arts in 1976, and a Ph.D. in American and African American history in 1978.
Lonnie G. Bunch
Bunch’s career began when he was named an adjunct lecturer at American University from 1976 to 1978, followed by a position as an education specialist at the National Air and Space Museum until 1979. He then served as an Assistant Professor of American and Afro-American History at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, from 1979 to 1981. From there he moved to Brooklyn, New York where he taught at the Packer Collegiate Institute until 1983.
In 1983, Bunch made history as the first curator at the California African American Museum (CAAM), where he organized award-winning exhibitions such as “The Black Olympians, 1904โ1950” and “Black Angelenos: The Afro-American in Los Angeles, 1850โ1950.” He left CAAM in 1989 to work as a curator and later as associate director for curatorial affairs at the National Museum of American History until 1994. During this period, he also taught at George Washington University as a professor in the Museum Studies and History departments, a role he maintained until 2000.
From 2005 to 2019, Bunch served as the head of the Chicago Historical Society (now the Chicago History Museum), leading transformative initiatives, including a capital campaign, an institutional reorganization, and the launch of the successful “Teen Chicago” exhibition. His leadership was vital in the museumโs growth and outreach to diverse communities.
In 2005, he became the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Bunch led a multimillion dollar fundraising that attracted both public and private funds to create the largest African American history museum in the nation. Partly because of that success, Bunch in 2019 made history as the first African American and the first historian to lead the Smithsonian Institution in its 173-year history. As the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian, he oversaw 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, and various research and education centers. Bunch published the book A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump in 2019, and he co-authored The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden and From No Return: The 221-Year Journey of the Slave Ship Sรฃo Josรฉ. He also served on the Commission for the Preservation of the White House under Presidents Bush and Obama and was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2020.
In 2025, during President Trump’s administration, Bunch addressed new policies regarding freedom of expression, asserting the commitment to ensuring history, science, and education are accessible to all Americans.
Bunch’s exceptional contributions have garnered numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from Brown and Yale University, the NAACP’s President’s Award, the Phi Beta Kappa Award for Distinguished Service to Humanity, and France’s The Legion of Honor.
Dr. Lonnie Griffith Bunch III is married to Maria Marable, who serves as Associate Director of Museum Learning and Programs at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Together they have two daughters.
