Kevin Young, who has led the National Museum of African American History and Culture since 2021, went on leave before the president criticized the institution in an executive order.
Kevin Young, the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, stepped down on Friday after four years in the role, the museum said.
In a statement, the museum said that Mr. Young said he wanted to focus on his writing. He remains the poetry editor of The New Yorker.
His departure comes as President Trump has targeted the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, in an executive order. But Mr. Young went on leave before the order was issued; The Washington Post reported that he left on personal leave on March 14.
The original leave was said to be for an undetermined period of time, The Post reported. In recent weeks, Shanita Brackett, the museum’s associate director of operations, has been serving as its interim director. But on Friday the museum said that Mr. Young was departing.
Mr. Young did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the time of his appointment in 2020, Mr. Young, a widely published poet, was director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library, and poetry editor at The New Yorker magazine. He began work at the museum in 2021, and during his tenure there has continued as poetry editor of The New Yorker, from which he never took leave.
The museum, which opened in 2016, was built on the National Mall to tell the African American story for all Americans. Mr. Young was its second director, succeeding the founding director, Lonnie G. Bunch III, who in 2019 became the secretary of the Smithsonian, its most senior position.