Claudine K. Brown was born in 1949 and died on March 17, 2016.

She was an American museum director and educator and nonprofit executive.

Brown was popularly known for her work at the Smithsonian Institution, where she was the first Director of Education, responsible for directing its work to help educate K-12 students.

Claudine was also a specialist in African-American history.

She started her museum career as an educator in 1977 at the Brooklyn Museum, advancing to become “manager of school and community programs (1982-1984), and then assistant director for government and community relations (1985-1990) for that institution,” then becoming Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Smithsonian.

Claudine K. Brown left the Smithsonian following the mid-1990s failure of a project to establish a National Museum of African American History as a result of political opposition led by Jesse Helms.

Claudine K. Brown passed away in 2016.