courtesy the smithsonian institution
of the last areas that can provide us with new knowledge [of the slave trade] is underwater. I wanted to be a part of that process, and the scholarship that can be shaped.” Bunch is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the first African American and first historian to serve as head of the Smithsonian. As Secretary, he oversees 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, and numerous research centers. Prior to his appointment to the Smithsonian, he was the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Bunch transformed a vision into a reality, and the museum opened to the public in September 2016 as the 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution. In service to the historical and cultural community, Bunch has held numerous teaching positions at universities across Lonnie Bunch in front of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the country, including American Univer- a project he shepherded from the ground up. The museum is the only national museum desity, the University of Massachusetts–Dart- voted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. mouth, and George Washington University. He has served as a trustee of the American Association of Museums and the Council of the American Association of State & Local History, and was a member of the American Antiquarian Society. Bunch was appointed to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House by President George W. Bush in 2002 and reappointed by President Barack Obama in 2010. In 2005, he was named one of the 100 most influential museum professionals of the 20th century by the American Association of Museums. In 2020 he was awarded the Dan David Prize from Tel Aviv University. That same year Bunch received France’s highest award, The Legion of Honor. He has also been awarded the Freedom Medal—one of the Four Freedom Awards from the Roosevelt Institute—for his contribution to American culture as a historian and storyteller; the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from the Hutchins Center at Harvard University; the National Equal Justice Award from the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund; and the Tony Horwitz Prize honoring distinguished work in American history of wide appeal and enduring public significance. Kristen Greenaway will be honored for her outstanding contributions to the maritime museum community, not only as a transformative CEO and president of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, but also for her global initiatives that have enriched maritime museums internationally. She has stressed the importance of museums taking a leadership role to better serve their communities, and conservation efforts necessary to save the oceans and the planet. Her Excellency Rosemary Banks, Ambassador of New Zealand to the United States, will present the NMHS Distinguished Service Award to Ms. Greenaway. Greenaway serves on the Executive Council of the International Congress of Maritime Museums and chaired the Program Planning Committee for the 2017 ICMM Congress in Valparaiso, Chile. Her active leadership in the ICMM continues to bring new energy to the maritime museum field. Greenaway has emphasized maritime museums’ leadership role in environmental conservation efforts, particularly in her memorable address to ICMM in 2019 in Scandinavia. She continues to underscore this need, promoting efforts to discontinue the use of plastics and address microplastics found in our seas: “It is imperative that maritime museums take a firm stance on this platform…. We in the maritime museum industry are the best resource to remind people of how this all happened. The lack of interest is tragic; it needs to be seen as a key topic.” SEA HISTORY 178, SPRING 2022
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Kristen L. Greenaway
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