Bunch served as the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) from 2005 to 2019.

[6] Bunch credits his childhood experiences with local Italian immigrants and his reading of biographies as a youth with inspiring him to study history.

Reflecting in 2011 on the early exposures, Bunch said: "I was in junior high, and we were reading biographies of historic figures.

[9] In Chicago he led a successful capital campaign, and promoted outreach to diverse communities.

[10] In 2005, Bunch was named the director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[7] As founding director he designed a program of traveling exhibitions and public events prior to the opening of the museum.

He became the first historian and first African American to lead the Smithsonian in its 173-year history,[12] he began his new role on June 16, 2019.