Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch Steps Down Amid Trump’s Attacks
“I leave with pride and sadness,” said the institution’s secretary, pledging to continue fighting to “protect the integrity of the Smithsonian.”
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch will step down from his post by the end of the year, amid ongoing attacks on the institution by President Donald Trump and his administration.
In a statement shared with Hyperallergic, Bunch announced his departure with “very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude.”
“There is no place like the Smithsonian — it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together,” Bunch said. “I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”
Bunch was named the Smithsonian’s 14th secretary in June 2019, becoming the first Black American and first historian at the helm of the institution. He was previously the founding director of the African American History and Culture Museum, and had worked as a curator at the American History Museum and an education specialist at the National Air and Space Museum earlier in his career, totaling more than three decades of service at the Smithsonian. (Bunch also led the Chicago History Museum, a non-Smithsonian organization, from 2000 to 2005.)
Since taking office in 2025, the Trump administration has sought to whitewash United States history by targeting the Smithsonian’s curatorial approaches, accusing the museum and research network of focusing too much on “how bad slavery was” and mandating essentialist concepts of gender.
