What Lonnie Bunch Told Me
He was ready for life after the Smithsonian. Protecting the institution had taken a toll.
Clint Smith
Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the new poetry collection Above Ground. He is also the author of the poetry collection Counting Descent, which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, and of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book How the Word Is Passed. He is the host of the Crash Course Black American History YouTube series.
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How long can the museum system’s leader, Lonnie Bunch, survive?
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The secretary of defense is sending the message that Black service members are not welcome.
U.S. Air Force / Interim Archives / Getty The Trump Administration Can’t Kill Black History Month
We don’t need permission from the government to commemorate a complex past.
Gina Rodgers / Alamy Those Who Try to Erase History Will Fail
Montgomery shows what’s possible when museums aren’t subject to capricious executive orders.
Bob Miller / Getty Tell Students the Truth About American History
We owe it to Americans of all ages to be honest about the country’s past, including its contradictions.
Illustration by Anna Ruch / The Atlantic. Sources: Library Of Congress / Bettmann / Getty. What Is Colonial Williamsburg For?
Telling the full story of the town’s past is an easy way to make a lot of people mad.
Illustration by Matt Huynh Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad
The president’s latest criticism of museums is a thinly veiled attempt to erase Black history.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Twenty Years After the Storm
What home meant before, and after, Hurricane Katrina
Courtesy of Clint Smith How Toni Morrison Changed Publishing
At night, she worked on her novels. By day, as an editor at Random House, she championed a new generation of writers.
Jill Krementz
