Director, National Museum of African American History and Culture

Location Washington, DC Location Type Work at location### Description
** Director, National Museum of African American History and Culture
**** ABOUT THE SMITHSONIAN AND THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE
** The Smithsonian Institution (SI) is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo – shaping the future by preserving heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing our resources with the world. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting, and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history.

Occupying a prominent location next to the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the nearly 400,000-square-foot museum was established by an Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. The Museum opened to the public on September 24, 2016, as the 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution, and in June 2024 welcomed its 11 millionth visitor.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened with 12 permanent exhibitions telling the nation’s story through the African American lens. Since then, it has debuted additional  temporary exhibitions on topics ranging from the Great Migration, African Americans in World War I, and the Civil Rights Movement, to Reconstruction, Afro futurism, and the powerful Emmett Till Memorial. The Museum has hosted hundreds of public programs and is actively collecting items to document the history of enslavement, art history, and contemporary social justice movements.

Social justice is more than a theme or a program at NMAAHC, it is embedded in the Museum’s approach to collections, exhibitions, education, programming, and fundraising.

NMAAHC is a place where all Americans can learn about the richness and diversity of the African American experience and how it helped to shape this nation. The primary purpose of NMAAHC is to acquire, maintain, and preserve objects which document social, cultural, political, military, technological, and scientific developments in the United States related to the African American experience; to conduct scholarly research designed to make significant contributions to the body of knowledge in the field of African American history;

to publish findings for both scholarly and general audiences; and to interpret historical developments through public exhibits and programs as well as digital content. Within the Museum, a range of exhibitions leverage powerful first-person accounts alongside poignant artifacts to foster a deeper understanding of historical content and draw meaningful connections across the lines of history through to present day.

The Museum’s digital strategy provides global access to the Museum’s collections, resources, and bold storytelling. NMAAHC remains at the forefront of cultural responsiveness and brings engaging and educational offerings to the public both online and in person, with over 20,000 or nearly half of its holdings digitized and searchable. The Searchable Museum is the Museum’s signature digital initiative that offers online exhibitions, virtual symposia, and digital programs.

It launched on NMAAHC’s fifth anniversary (2021), allowing the museum to go beyond its walls and engage a global audience, with the ultimate goal of bringing all of its permanent exhibitions online. The first digital exhibition to be shared on the Searchable Museum site was Slavery and Freedom, creating a compelling online experience from the existing physical exhibition in the Museum’s history galleries.

Utilizing constellations to encourage curiosity and exploration, it has transformed the narrative structure and tone of the Museum’s gallery experience while offering virtual visitors the ability to hold history in their hands. The Searchable Museum’s offerings have now expanded to seven online exhibitions, from Reconstruction to Afro futurism, with more underway.

From its…