Georgetown Confers Honorary Degree on Museum Director
By • January 30, 2017 0 1016
In an elaborate ceremony Jan. 24, Georgetown University conferred an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree on Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
“I’m as honored and almost as speechless as I’ve ever been,” said Bunch, now Dr. Bunch, in his acceptance address.
He related how he had developed a passion for history beginning when he was a young man in New Jersey, growing up with the stories of past generations of his family in books and at family gatherings. He eventually earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in history at Howard University and American University.
Bunch wrote numerous books on African American history as a college professor at AU, George Washington University and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He is particularly known for his essay: “Flies in the Buttermilk: Museums, Diversity and the Will to Change.” It reflects his evolving as a director of cultural-history museums in California and Chicago, with the Smithsonian in D.C. and as a member of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, appointed by two presidents: George W Bush and Barack Obama.
In 2005, Bunch was tapped to conceptualize, build and lead the construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as oversee the collection and curating of thousands of historical artifacts. On the National Mall near the Washington Monument, the museum, ceremonially opened last October by President Obama, has been filled to capacity for months.
“Our newest alumnus has brought to life the history and culture of African Americans and a deeper understanding of our shared American story,” said Georgetown University President John DeGioia after conferring the honorary degree. “He has made African American history come alive far beyond dates and names. He has offered a new framing of the history of our nation to make it relevant so that we all share in the responsibility for what happened.”
“When we started the museum we had no idea how it would be,” Bunch said. “But I was determined that it would help us all to remember the dark corners of our past and to find new way to confront it with America as it is today. African American history is a story of us all. If we don’t remember all our past, than we are nothing more than a people that has forgotten.”
Bunch’s address was followed by a stirring musical tribute, “We Choose to Remember,” commissioned by Georgetown University for the Let Freedom Ring Celebration on this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Sung by the Voices of Inspiration and tenor Michael White, Director Nolan Williams guided the audience during the performance to shout at specific places: “Freedom!” and “Remembrance!”
