Smithsonian secretary to help kick off new Charleston museum speaker series

An executive with the Smithsonian National Museum of History will participate in the launch of a new speaker series at the International African American Museum in downtown Charleston.

The Salon Marronge speaker series will feature “prominent and provocative artists, thought leaders and changemakers” speaking with Tonya Matthews, president and CEO of IAAM, and will kick off with Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, according to a news release.

Matthews and Bunch “will explore museums’ vital role in preserving and narrating authentic stories and how museums can better represent diverse cultures, voices and perspectives,” the release stated.

Bunch became the Smithsonian’s first African American secretary in 2019, as well as being the first historian to serve in that position. Today, Bunch oversees 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers and multiple education units and centers across the country.

When Bunch started, he had one staff member, no collections, no funding and no site for the museum, the release stated. Now, he is most known for his position as the founding director of the National Museaum of African American History and Culture, the release explained.

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Currently, Bunch is developing two museums; the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.

Bunch published his book “A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture In the Age of Bush, Obama, Trump,” which discussed the “limited understanding of the arc of African American history.”

“We found it necessary to provide frameworks that would help the visitor navigate the complexity of this history and also create opportunities for the audience to find familiar stories and events that made the museum more accessible,” Bunch said in the release.

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