Know the state of your health that day . Parentsng boy, my brought me to the smithsonian because i lived in baltimore and it was free. And i came to love the smithsonian. So i had a chance about a dozen at theto become smithsonian, i jumped at the opportunity. A recognized from the start that he was a gifted director. He started with nothing to build a museum and made it into one of the most popular in the entire country. We could not be prouder of the work that he has done to help make this day possible. And then a vacancy came along to be the secretary of the smithsonian. We look at many candidates around the country, it was clear that he was the best person to be secretary. He knew the smithsonian, he was committed to the smithsonian, so it was an easy choice. We are at the housing museum which is part of the smithsonian, and lonnie is the 14th secretary. You were the first africanamerican to be selected and the first historian, is that right . Thats right, im very proud to be with you. Host i should disclose that i was the chairman and im still on the board but i will ask the tough questions anyway. Lonnie i appreciate that. Host is the job as good as you thought it was going to be . Lonnie no one knew what it was like to lead during a pandemic but what has happened as a result of that, i really learned the wonders of the smithsonian when it comes together. Museums and research centers, and the do not always blend. But because of this pandemic, people have come together across lines, scientists, historians, educators. For me, im really glad because im getting to see what the smithsonian does even in the most difficult of times, when it comes together and brings its creativity to bear. David what did you do in terms of operating, did you and all the research institutions, you had 19 museums. What i realized once we shut down the buildings, i needed the smithsonian to still be operating, so we really created everything online. We created educational opportunities, portals that would allow educators to get our science, history, art. Scientistsso that could do the work they needed to do, the reality is that we recognize that now as a result of this virus, we got to rethink so much about the smithsonian. Weve got to rethink about how to telework more effectively. When people come back, what does social distancing me . People who dont know each other come together around an artifact. Are people going to want to come together in a time of pandemic . We are really thinking about, how do we create Community Even in social distancing . David the smithsonian is not yet open, you have two parts of it open. This museum is open and the national zoo. Why those two first . Lonnie i wanted to figure out how to open the rest of the smithsonian. The zoo, because it was outdoors. This one because it is large and it has parking. Basically, these were the test case and if the virus begins to to operate allow us the rest of the smithsonian. David where do you operate from while covid19 was prevalent . Lonnie i thought i would go into the office, but i realized if i went in the office, though many other people would come in. I ended up working from home and andarned to master zoom other Technology Im still fighting with. Basically, work from home everyday. David museums have been around for thousands of years. But now with zoom and virtual technologies, why cant you just look at the screen and see what you need to see . Lonnie i think there is something powerful about the object. The fact that you can see the Space Shuttle right in front of you is really powerful, you feel a connection. Ive seen people stand in front of a copy of the emancipation cadillac andor a it stimulates conversation. In essence, what we should do with the smithsonian is find the right tension between tradition and innovation. We have to realize that traditional stuff is good, but now we also recognize that as the result of the pandemic, more people are comfortable receiving content digitally. It really means that we just need to find the right balance between serving the millions that will never get to a museum, and the millions that actually come to the smithsonian. David during the closing of the museums, we had the race riots in washington and other cities around the country and reacting to the death of a number of people such as george boyd. George floyd. How has the smithsonian reacted . Lonnie i thought it was really important to realize that in some ways, the smithsonian is the glue that holds the nation together, he can bring people of different political points of view together so when all of the angst and the pain happened as a result of the murder of george floyd and others, i realized the smithsonian had a role to play, that we should be a place that would help the public grapple with the things that divide us. One of the things we did was we garnered support from bank of america, created a program that looks to raise the future to basically say, how do we create town halls for people to come together to talk about this . How do we use the resources of the smithsonian, our expertise on africanamerican culture, to get people a historical guidance to help them live their lives . David what about the diversity in the smithsonian workforce, and your executives . Lonnie i think the smithsonian like many places has a lot of work to do. Im very pleased we got some diverse leadership, weve got strong, diverse people. Think if we are going to help the public grapple with these issues, you got to model it. David there was a secretary about the secretary of the smithsonian when they had the riots, and he was wandering around looking for artifacts he could take up and take to the smithsonian. Any truth to that . Down at Lafayette Square talking to people, looking at some of the materials on the walls, collecting some, but really directing others. David you are Walking Around saying i am the secretary of the smithsonian, can i have this . Lonnie i had to show my id. What is the biggest challenge you have right now other than getting ready for opening again . Fundraising, dealing with congress . Lonnie first of all, the challenge is to make sure that the smithsonian has a Stable Funding it needs. Because of the pandemic, we lost millions of dollars, people are not going to restaurants and shops which has an impact on our staff. We are really trying to make sure we have the strongest when angel bond because what it really means is we have got to rethink some things. Rather than just reopen her shots, weve got to build more ecommerce. This is really allowing us to think creatively about what the smithsonian should be. I came to chicago and plan to stay there the rest of my career when i got the call to think about National American history and culture. David why did you take it, because there was no money, there was no land, there was no plan . Lonnie i wasnt sure how many nos there were. David so lets talk about your background a moment. You grew up in new jersey. What do you want to be when you were growing up . I assume not secretary of the smithsonian. To do something with history, i always liked history. Is it absolutely true story that my grandfather died the day before i turned five, and he would read to me, and he would read books. One day he was reading a book and a picture of schoolchildren was probably from the 1860s. And he said to me that the picture said unidentified children. And that was something i never forgot. He said isnt it a shame people can live their lives and die and all it says is unidentified . And that got me trying to figure out how to understand what their lives were like . At i began to look photographs and try to imagine, what were their jobs, with a happy . It got me interested in history. The second step was growing up in the town i grew up in, there were very few africanamericans. I was the only africanamerican in my Elementary School and there were people that treated me horribly and others the trinity wonderfully. And i thought if i understood the history of this town, maybe i would understand me. David when you were younger, your father would drive you to the south what you could not stop at many places except for one place. We would drive from new jersey to visit my mothers family in North Carolina and this was the jim crow era. We would load the car up with food and blankets because we knew we couldnt stop. He was the only driver. David because there is no place . Lonnie no place that would let black people stopped. Ive remember he was falling asleep and he pulled into a motor court. And he pulled in, and my mother and my brother were asleep and i was watching him and he went out to smoke a cigarette and i noticed he was standing under a sign that said white only and i was terrified. I thought something is going to happen, i was just a wreck. He finally recognizes that im really worried and he says to me, ive never forgotten, he says this is my america, too. And it reminded me that no matter what happened, this is part of my country and i want to do whatever i can to make it fairer. David did he ever bring you to the smithsonian . Lonnie to me, when we used to go to the south, we would go past museums in richmond and petersburg and like many kids, i was a civil war buff, so i wanted desperately to stop, but he would always find an excuse not to stop. On the way back i remember taking out a map and plotting what a mile before because the richmond and i would alert him, but he would always keep going. Jersey, we got to new he pulled into washington and he pulled in front of the smithsonian and he said it here is a place for you can go learn about yourself in a museum and not worry about the color of your skin. For me, the smithsonian was always a place of fairness. For a 12yearold or 13yearold kid, this was a place that you can be you want, you can learn all you want and not worry about the color of your skin. Being secretary was my way of thanking an institution that embraced me. Toid you came to washington get your undergraduate education at american university. You are an africanamerican male in the 1960s, the 1970s. Were there a lot of Job Opportunities . Lonnie there were very few teaching jobs and i remember at the end of my graduate career, i was broke. I was living on a teaching assistants salary and there was a returning student who was 40 years old and she said to me, you should go down to the smithsonian because her husband worked there and i could get a job. And never member i remember saying who works at the smithsonian . That is where you take dates for free. And her husband introduced me to the secretary. I did know who the secretary was, and im not going to get a job, so im in jeans and ive got a big afro. And i sit there very comfortable and we talked for two and a half hours. Then she says, we might want to hire you. I said i wouldnt mind working with history and technology and he said we only have a job at the air and space museum. And i said im a 19thcentury historian, i know nothing about airplanes. And he said something that was so instructed to me. He says young man, how much money are you making now . He said, you would make four times that if you come and work for me. I said i will be coming their as an employee. And that is how my career began. David you also met your wife there . Lonnie i met my wife, i learned how to be a curator. I learned about the wonders of the smithsonian. For me, my whole life has been shaped by the smithsonian. You went to california, what was that . Lonnie i wanted to run to be the first curator of the African American the xenical. I went there before the olympics of 1984, so my main job was to do a major exhibition on the history of blacks in the olympics. The smithsonian taught me how to be a scholar. David you came back but then you went away to run the Chicago Historical society. Lonnie i was in American History for 12 years and was not going to leave. And io recruited me really was not planning on going but i had a meeting with the mayor and the governor of illinois, and he said this is a city that has been tortured by race, and if you could come and be the only africanamerican running one of our major institutions and do well, what an impact you could have, and that appealed to me. I planned to stay there the rest of my career, and i got the call to help build the National Museum of african American History and culture. David so there was a secretary who called you, and he said come back and build this museum, and you came back and you ultimately took the job, but why do you take it . There was no money, there was no land, there was no plan. Lonnie i wasnt sure how many nos there were. I knew that there was no plan and i do that there was no site but he did not know that there was no staff. Realized that the africanamerican running a major exam in chicago nurtured my soul. I was really happy, what i realized that i could help build this museum, we could really nurtured a soul of my ancestor, but we can help america to grapple with race, and that is what brought me back. David the museum open right before president Obama Left Office in 2016. A very memorable ceremony. You have got to that, to get an architect to build the building, raise the money and get the artifacts. Lets go through that, lets take the money. How much did it cost . Easy and basically cost 550 million to build, and we raised about 620 million to do that. Half of it was paid by the federal government, half of it by wonderful philanthropist and donors. David did you ever think you could raise that much from the private sector when you started . Lonnie i told my mother i had to raise that amount of money, she said that is more money than god can count. I wasnt sure, but one of my great strengths is to be able to look at the big picture and put my head down and do the work. Slowly but surely, it began to work. David you got the money from congress and from the private sector, and then you had to figure out where youre going to put the museum. How many artifacts did you inherit . Lonnie zero, we had no artifacts whatsoever. I some point i thought, do we just do it without artifacts . But it is the smithsonian. So we need to find these objects. I didnt know exactly how to do it. One day i sort of fell asleep in front of the television and i woke up and antique roadshow was on. I had never heard of it. I said what a great idea. Curators from around the smithsonian all around the country to help people preserve those 19thcentury photographs, and then say, do you want this . And suddenly, we found Amazing Things that i wasnt sure we could find. David how many artifacts did you get . Lonnie we collected over 40,000 artifacts. David and 75 of them came from people lonnie basement, trunks and attics of peoples homes. David how many have visited so far . Lonnie over 7. 5 million people. That and it is one of few you cant just walk and because demand is so great. Did you expect that . Lonnie i didnt. I knew it was popular but it became a pivotal site for africanamericans, nonafricanamericans. Weve been getting a thousand people per day, so we had to actually say you have to have tickets because the crowds were so great. David every congressman and senator is calling you for tickets. Lonnie i am everybodys best friend. 43 signedsident bush legislation to improve the museum and obama was president when it was opened. I think is that you, make sure it is open while im in office. Lonnie i was talking to the president , he said we got to move a little quicker. David as a result of covid, how that the organization had to pivot . Lonnie i put together seven teams to help me think about this. One to get me the best medical advice working with the cdc and others, but then i put together a team to look at what is the new normal . That theret mean will still be a virus concerned, what does it mean that we have to think about doing more digitally . What does it mean that we have to protect our staff . 93 of the smithsonian staff wanted to telework. Think veryght me to differently, to use this as an opportunity to ask fundamental questions about structure, about the way we do business, so my goal is to come out of it better and stronger. David when the smithsonian does reopen eventually, will people be required to wear masks . Lonnie unless you have a medical issue. Isause i think that our job to keep the staff save in the visitors safe. David what lessons have you personally learned and how are you going to change your life as a result . Lonnie one of the big lessons is ive left my fingerprints on everything. ve got good people working i used to think i had to be there. I dont have to be there. The other thing i learned more than anything else is the fragility of human life, and the fragility of fairness in this country. Of the virus and racism have really inspired me even more to sort of struggle to help the country understand itself better and to find a country that is freer and fai rer. s National Museum helps to tell a richer and fuller story of who we are. It reaffirms that all of us are americans. The africanAmerican History is not somehow separate from our it is notrican story, the underside of the american story, it is central to the american story. I do want to give a shout out to lonnie. It is really important to understand this project would not and could not have happened without his drive, his energy, and his optimism. Lets go back to the opening day. You have worked on this for how many years . Lonnie david 11 years. David started with nothing, it opens in september in september. Who was there, who were the dignitaries . Who. E it became a whos on the stage were president and misses bush, president and misses obama. People from the smithsonian, and in the audience were almost so manylitical figure, people from entertainment and sports, and what i was so moved by is the people who wanted to participate in the program. Smith,infrey, will robert de niro. It became more than i could even imagine. It was less the opening of a museum and more a celebration of a culture. David were you worried that something would go wrong . Lonnie i was terrified. Terrified that i would mess up, terrified that somebody would not enjoy themselves. I was terrified that we would not get the crowd that i hoped and instead we got tens of thousands of people on the mall. It became an opportunity where i thought some of the best speechmaking i had ever heard. I thought president bush gave a powerful speech about how a great nation confronted history, it doesnt run from it. Obama talked just beautifully about what is meant to him and his family, but clearly the late john lewis stole the show, talking about how this museum was the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement for him, and that this was really something that he was proudest of. And i will be honest, i was so grateful to be able to help for fill his dream, it was such a special day. David president bush 43 signed a legislation for the museum and obama was president when it was opened. I think he said to you, make sure it is open while im in office. Lonnie he did. He would say to me, youve got to let me cut the ribbon. That was great. I was talking to the president , he says we got to move a little quicker. David most people dont have a chance to do two great things in life, one is pretty good. You build this museum, you deserve the lines share of the credit if not all of the credit. Be did you want to smithsonian secretary because as your mother would say to you, what you need that for, you already have a great job . You have a great view of the washington monument, why do you want this job . Lonnie because she told me to. What i would be realized is that i loved what i did and i knew that i had the best view, i could see everything. The story is i took obama through the museum and he came into my office and said it you have a better view than i do. And i said youve only worked eight years, i worked 11. But i realized that i didnt need to a cop was anything, so i could give everything to the smithsonian. This was really my opportunity to say how do i bring more than 25 years of smithsonian doerience to the floor, how i get back to a place that has meant so much to me, and how do i help the smithsonian really rethink itself as a 21st Century Institution . David why do you regard this as an important job for you to do, because you are africanamerican, because you are american . Lonnie in part because as an american, the smithsonian is this amazing treasure. It really is a reservoir that the public can get into to not just understand the past, but do have a better sense about who we are now and really point us to a better future. It is a reservoir that says we want to understand about space, youre here to do that. You want to understand history . We can help you do that. You want to see the creativity of people artistically . We can do that as well. It really is a great source of information and creativity that i want the public to draw from. I feel honored and humbled to be the secretary because every day, i learn something new and i want the public to be in little learn from the smithsonian every day. Be able to learn from the smithsonian every day. You doing okay . Yeah. This moving thing never gets any easier. 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