Dr. Damion Thomas is the Museum Curator of Sports for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.  He earned a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in United States History at UCLA.  Prior to joining the museum, he was an assistant professor at the University of Maryland—College Park and the University of Illinois—Urbana/Champaign.  He is the author of Globetrotting: African American Athletes and Cold War Politics, and numerous other articles and op-eds.