Ryan Shepard: I guess we can start here. When I was looking through your bio on the Smithsonian website, I read that there was no staff, collection or funding when you took this job. When you look back at where you were in July 2005 and see where you are now, what stands out?

Dr. Lonnie Bunch III: One thing that stands out to me is the amazing array of people. Some are Smithsonian people, some are donors and others are average folks who believed in this, when maybe they shouldn't have believed, but they still gave us that support. For me, this museum shows that when you cross political and racial lines with a good idea, you can get something done. As I look back, I am so proud that the museum is there. At a time when there is discourse around issues of fairness, this museum is both a symbol and a source that can give people that sort of information, reality and a little bit of hope.

RS: Having been there multiple times, "hope" is definitely a word that I would use to describe my overall experience. I went there for the first time during my junior year of college in 2017. I went with my friend and one moment always comes to mind when I think about that experience. My friend was a freshman and I was a junior at the time. Growing up at different times and having different educational experiences, there were some things I had learned about that she hadn't and vice versa. In particular, we both knew about Emmett Till's murder, but she hadn't seen the picture of his face after he was killed. I had. When we got to the bottom floor and we went to the exhibit honoring his life and examining his death, she saw the picture and she immediately started breaking down and crying. I cry a lot myself. I've seen people cry during movies, poetry, etc. I've seen people cry from a lot of different things. However, that was the first time I saw someone moved so strongly by a museum exhibit. I use that story to ask this question. What do you think it is about this museum that moves people in that way? What do you think it is about this museum that stands out?

LB: First of all, it's the richness of the culture. The culture itself, gives you moments to cry, moments to smile and moments to draw strength from. So, I think it was really capturing the culture. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make this place, so that it's not just a museum. I wanted this to be an institution that moves you and inspires you. I thought a lot about how Black culture is an emotion. Whether it's how you tap your toes like Duke Ellington or it's feeling the pain of our experience, it's an emotion. So, I didn't ever want anybody to be able to just walk through the museum and not be touched. I was always driven by John Hope Franklin, the great historian who chaired my scholarly advisory board until his death. He would always say, "Lonnie, I hope you can make sure that as we build this museum, that when people go through, they'll be changed." That was my "North star" saying I wanted people to be changed by either the knowledge, emotion or strength of a people. I think the staff succeeded in doing that. I don't think that anybody who goes to that museum can't have their heart touched, their brain stimulated and their ethics challenged.

RS: Speaking of emotions and how this museum makes people feel, I watched the address that you gave during the dedication ceremony in 2016. During your speech, you talked about an experience that involved you going to the museum early to see the sunrise and you came across a man that was so overcome with emotion that he started crying because he was so happy that the museum was being built. Hearing you tell that story made me think of my grandmother who was born in 1927 and grew up in Savannah, Georgia. She moved all the way up to Brooklyn where she had my mother, my aunts and my uncle. My Mom went on to become the first person in her family to graduate from college, my brother works on SportsCenter and all of these amazing things are possible because of the sacrifices she made. She got to see so many different things in her life She got to see Barack Obama become the first Black President, but I wish she could've seen this museum. In your life and along your journey, is there anyone that you wished could've seen this museum that can't?

LB: I mean...like you, my Dad died before we opened the museum and it was really very hard for me because he inspired me and challenged me to sort of fight the good fight. So, I wish he could see it. It was wonderful that my mother was able to see it, so that was very, very powerful. But I wish my Dad could have seen it, partly because I built the museum, for him and for your grandmother. In some ways, this was really a way to honor what they went through and for them to see themselves in a positive light. So, I think that was really for me, one of the sad moments. But you know, as I said, I'm Lonnie Bunch III. When I went up to speak, I heard them calling, "Lonnie Bunch," I'm thinking of my father and my grandfather, so it gave me great comfort that somehow they were celebrating them as well.

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