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Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III Discusses Why ‘History Matters’ with Sarah Lawrence College President Cristle Collins Judd
Sarah Lawrence’s History Matters series explores how the past continues to live on in each of us, helping make us better informed citizens of the world.
YONKERS, NY, April 11, 2023– Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first African American, the first historian, and the first Smithsonian museum director to assume the position of Smithsonian Secretary, will join Sarah Lawrence College President Cristle Collins Judd on Tuesday, April 18, for the final installment of the College’s History Matters series.
Regarded as one of the nation’s leading figures in the historical and museum community, Bunch’s background as a public historian with more than 35 years in the museum field lends a unique perspective on the critical issues that history can help address.
“History is an especially critical tool for understanding the most urgent questions of today, and if we're prepared to give our fullest attention to the complex ways in which we are embedded in history, the more empowered we'll be to make better, more humane choices as we seek to shape history and nudge it forward,” said President Judd. “I’m looking forward to speaking with Secretary Bunch about the role museums play in using the past to make the present coherent.”
“History has always been a teacher to me, helping me understand America’s past but also contextualizing the present and explaining our society’s divisions along lines of race, gender, and socioeconomic status,” said Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian. “Our shared future as a nation is dependent on fully interrogating and understanding our past, and I look forward to a robust discussion with President Judd about the ways we can all benefit from history’s lessons.”
As Secretary, Bunch oversees 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, and numerous research centers, including the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.
Bunch was the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He chronicled the creation of the museum in his book, A Fool’s Errand: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump. In 2021, he received France’s highest award, The Legion of Honor.
At a time when fewer and fewer college students in the U.S. are electing to study history, delving deep into the past to better understand its impact on the future is more important than ever. Through a combination of keynote speakers, workshops, and panels, the History Matters series explores the roots of urgent and relevant matters: struggles over reproductive rights and the meaning of the Constitution at home; the long destructive underpinnings of enslavement; global capitalism and its impact on climate; public memory and the nature of the “archive”; and the histories of human migration and immigration, to name a few.
Event Details:
An Evening With Lonnie Bunch: In Conversation with President Cristle Collins Judd
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
7 p.m.
In person and online
Free and open to the public
Register online
About the History Matters Series
History is an especially critical tool for understanding the most urgent questions of today, and if we're prepared to give our fullest attention to the complex ways in which we are embedded in history, the more empowered we'll be to make better, more humane choices as we seek to shape history and nudge it forward. Without an informed, nuanced, and empathic appreciation of the past in all its complexity, we risk losing the capacity to speak to each other—as families, as communities, and as citizens.