Introducing The Future of the African American Past

This event was part of the May 2016 conference The Future of the African American Past, co-hosted by the American Historical Association and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Why hold an academic conference in the midst of opening a new museum? Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian’s NMAAHC, and Jim Grossman, executive director of the AHA, reflect on the museum’s mission to make scholarship more accessible to the public at a time when African American history is growing into one of the most active fields in the discipline.