History isn't a PR campaign. Yet political leaders keep demanding that our national museums act like one.
Lonnie Bunch just reminded everyone why that approach destroys scholarship. Stepping up to the microphone at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the outgoing Smithsonian Institution secretary faced a packed auditorium. He didn't mince words. He received a resounding standing ovation for hitting back hard against mounting political interference from the Trump administration.
If you've followed the headlines, you know the pressure has been relentless. The White House recently issued a report branding museum leaders as radical activists, ordering massive reviews of exhibits ahead of the country's upcoming 250th anniversary. Critics claim the institution focuses too much on institutional failures and dark chapters like slavery. Bunch isn't buying it. He called out the false narrative that documenting historical trauma equals a lack of patriotism.
The Cost of Sanitizing the Past
Truth hurts. Sometimes it terrifies people. But erasing the ugliness doesn't make a country great; it makes it fragile.
Bunch made a compelling point about his own enslaved ancestors. He noted that looking at the brutal reality of slavery isn't about wallowing in shame. It's about recognizing extraordinary resilience. How did people who survived bondage manage to dream up a better world? How did they lay the foundational bedrock of modern America? You can't answer those questions if you sanitize the textbooks.
Scholars understand this balance instinctively. Politicians often don't. When the administration demands warning signs outside the National Museum of American History or pushes for exhibits to toe a strict ideological line, it crosses a dangerous boundary. Museums shouldn't serve as propaganda arms for whichever party holds the executive branch. They exist to illuminate every corner of the human experience, bright and dark alike.
Navigating the Political Crossfire
The Smithsonian occupies a unique structural position. It operates independently outside the executive branch, guided by a board of regents that includes Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Vice President JD Vance. Even so, the institutional weight of the federal government bears down heavily during ideological disputes.
Consider what Bunch has navigated since taking the job as the first Black secretary of the institution in 2019:
- Sustained political pressure targeting independent curation.
- Demands to alter or remove historical exhibits deemed insufficiently patriotic.
- Public attacks labeling educational programming as radical activism.
- Budgetary threats and oversight demands designed to influence future staffing.
Despite these headwinds, the museum has stood its ground. When moderator and CNN anchor Laura Coates asked Bunch if recent months felt like everyone was beating him up, he just smiled. He mentioned walking down to see Emmett Till's casket—a stark, devastating artifact of racial violence—and realizing that true institutional resilience outlasts temporary political fights.
What Comes Next for the Smithsonian
Bunch is stepping down at the end of the year, leaving behind a massive legacy. That legacy was underscored by a $1 million pledge from television producer and board member Shonda Rhimes toward a new legacy fund in his honor. Supported by an initial $3.5 million anonymous donation, the fund aims to protect independent scholarship.
The upcoming search for a new secretary will test whether the institution can maintain its intellectual freedom. Conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have already signaled their intent to watch the transition closely, hoping to steer the museum away from what they view as culture-war battles.
At the end of the day, a museum's value depends entirely on its commitment to accuracy. If you visit a national gallery or a history archive, you aren't looking for a comforting fairy tale. You're looking for the unvarnished truth. Bunch spent decades building spaces that honor that exact standard.
Protecting independent history requires constant vigilance. Support institutions that choose truth over comfort.
