Kentucky African American Heritage Trail Welcome Center

09/12/2026

09/12/2026

HISTORY+CULTURE+ATTRACTIONS

A member of the Kentucky Historical Society provides insight into laws governing cemeteries.

09/09/2026

HISTORY+CULTURE+ATTRACTIONS

SECRETARY LONNIE G. BUNCH III IS ONE OF US!

“For AAAM, this is not simply the retirement of a Smithsonian Secretary. This is a moment to honor one of our own. It is an opportunity to honor someone who grew from this field, walked alongside this community, helped transform our profession, and then held the door open so that others could follow. We all owe a great deal to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III.” - Vedet Coleman-Robinson, Ph.D., President & CEO, Association of African American Museums

As we uplift this remarkable chapter in Secretary Bunch’s life and career, we invite the entire AAAM family to help us honor him. We welcome our members to share words of congratulations and encouragement, personal reflections, memories, and photographs through the AAAM member portal.

READ AAAM’S FULL STATEMENT & SUBMIT YOUR CONGRATULATORY WORDS HERE:

https://blackmuseums.org/secretary-lonnie-bunchiii-retires/

09/09/2026

HISTORY+CULTURE+ATTRACTIONS

Lonnie Bunch III has spent decades making sure the stories too often left out of American history are seen, heard, and preserved.

The EBONY Power 100 honoree and Smithsonian Secretary plans to retire at the end of 2026, closing a historic tenure that made him the institution’s first Black secretary and its first historian to hold the position. His announcement comes as the Smithsonian faces ongoing disputes with the Trump administration over how American history is presented.

Read more in the comments about Bunch’s historic leadership, his commitment to making overlooked voices visible, and what his departure could mean for the Smithsonian.

📸: Leon Bennett/Getty Images for EBONY Media Group

09/08/2026

HISTORY+CULTURE+ATTRACTIONS

09/07/2026

HISTORY+CULTURE+ATTRACTIONS

09/05/2026

HISTORY+CULTURE+ATTRACTIONS

Author, feminist, critic, activist and scholar bell hooks was born in 1952. Born Gloria Jean Watkins to working-class parents in 1952, hooks grew up in the segregated city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Her interest in poetry began at a young age as she recited the likes of Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning for her church community. hooks received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and was only 19 when she began working on the draft for her first book, “Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism.”

In her book, “Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work,” hooks writes, “Writing is my passion. It is a way to experience the ecstatic. The root understanding of the word ecstasy— 'to stand outside'—comes to me in those moments when I am immersed so deeply in the act of thinking and writing that everything else, even flesh, falls away.” Her most notable works, including, “Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom” and “All About Love: New Visions”, influenced generations of feminists, educators and artists to approach their work with love and purposefulness.

Her published works were diverse and ranged from scholarly books to films to children’s books and more. hooks, who passed away in 2021 is remembered as a force in feminist theory and in cultural criticism and continues to inspire a multitude of Black and women writers.



📸 Courtesy of Karjean Levine/Getty Images.

09/04/2026

HISTORY+CULTURE+ATTRACTIONS

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