On June 16, 2019, Lonnie G. Bunch III became the 14th secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
In an induction ceremony at the museum’s historic Arts and Industries Building in November of that year, Bunch shared a story about a 1960s road trip with his father during a racially tumultuous time in the country.
“He pulled in front of the Smithsonian, and then he said to me, ‘You could visit the Smithsonian and not worry about being turned away by the color of your skin,’” Bunch recalled.
