LDF Statement on the Retirement of Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III

Source:

Read the PDF of our statement here.

On Tuesday, Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III announced his retirement from the Smithsonian Institution, marking the end of his historic tenure as its 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the first Black person and first historian to lead the Smithsonian. Secretary Bunch has nearly four decades of service at the Smithsonian in multiple roles, including the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). His retirement comes at a moment when the Smithsonian faces unprecedented and alarming attacks from the Trump administration, which seeks to undermine the Smithsonian's autonomy and impair its mission to share and expand knowledge as part of this administration's attack on truth and history.

In response to Secretary Bunch's retirement, Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) issued the following statement:

"We thank Secretary Bunch for his extraordinary service to the Smithsonian and for his leadership during these deeply troubling times. His remarkable legacy reminds us that preserving and sharing the full breadth of our history requires both scholarship and courage. As founding director of NMAAHC, Secretary Bunch helped create a vital institution that affirmed what should never have been in question: Black history is American history. As Secretary, he remained committed to that truth, as he defended the importance of preserving and presenting the full complexity of our nation's history. His efforts were especially critical in this moment when Black Americans' contributions and experiences have come under attack.

"The American people deserve more than the Trump administration's shameless attempts to erase a history that belongs to all of us. As Secretary Bunch has urged, now is the time for all of us to be brave enough to learn the truth about our history, brave enough to confront the sins of our past, and brave enough to lead with honesty and integrity. We urge the public to support the Smithsonian and other museums and cultural institutions, learn from the histories they preserve, and speak out against efforts to censor, distort, or erase the truth about our nation's past and present. Only then can we avoid making the same mistakes in our shared future."

For more, read LDF's letter to Congress urging the protection of the Smithsonian Institution's integrity here.

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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation's first civil rights legal organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957, though it was founded under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall while he was at the NAACP. LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI) is a division of LDF that undertakes innovative research and houses LDF's archive. In all media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF (do not include NAACP) and refer to the Institute as LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute or TMI.