On October 22, 2014, Lonnie G. Bunch III, Founding Director, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture spoke with Karen Grigsby Bates, Lead Correspondent - Code Switch Team, NPR at Town Hall Los Angeles on "The Power of Museums and How Black California is Shaping the Promise of America." Bunch and Bates discussed what it took to found the museum, what its success would look like, and why the stories and conversations that will take place in the museum are so important to our national dialogue on history and race relations.
"I am not building an institution of black history for black people. The reality is that the African American experience is the quintessential American experience. It has shaped all of us in profound ways. We think about core American values of spirituality, optimism, resiliency. Where do the roots of many of those come from but within this community? When we think about the promise of American life, we realize that so much of that promise, helping us to define our sense of citizenship and equality, is shaped by this community.
So in essence, the story of black America is too important to be just left in the hands of black America. And so for me, part of why you build a museum like this at the Smithsonian is, first of all, you have an opportunity to create one of the greatest educational moments in America because at the Smithsonian, you will have six, seven million people walking through your building every year, and 90 to 100 million engaging with it online. So you have a chance to basically say, this is a story that people will wrestle with at the Smithsonian, who might not go to DuSable Museum in Chicago or the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum. So it's a great opportunity.
But as my youngest daughter – I love when you raise kids that are smarter than you! – Said to me, “I now understand what you're doing. Once this museum is completed, it means that as long as there's an America, there's an opportunity to understand this story, this history.” That's why we build a museum at the Smithsonian."
To the read a transcript of the conversation in its entirety, click here.
