Lonnie G. Bunch III, the Smithsonian Institution’s first Black secretary and founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, will retire at the end of the year after seven years leading the institution.
Bunch, 73, announced his retirement Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s administration presses the Smithsonian to change how its museums portray U.S. history, including slavery, race and immigration. Bunch said the dispute did not influence his decision to retire.
The White House has accused the Smithsonian of presenting a “radical view” of American history and has threatened to withhold some federal funding from the institution. Bunch has pushed back, saying Americans need to understand the “totality” and complexity of the nation’s past.
Bunch has spent nearly 38 years at the Smithsonian. He was tapped in 2005 to build the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 and has since welcomed more than 13 million visitors.