James Counts Early has served in various positions at the Smithsonian since first coming on board in 1972 as a researcher in Brazil and the Caribbean for the African DiasporaFolklife Festival program. He has served as assistant provost for educational and cultural programs, assistant secretary for education and public service, and interim director of the Anacostia Community Museum. A long-time advocate for cultural diversity and equity issues in cultural and educational institutions, he focuses his research on participatory museology, cultural democracy statecraft policy, capitalist and socialist discourses in cultural policy, and Afro-Latin politics, history, and cultural democracy. He has curated several Folklife Festival programs, including South Africa: Crafting the Economic Renaissance of the Rainbow Nation (1999) and Sacred Sounds: Belief and Society (1997). James holds a B.A. in Spanish from Morehouse College and completed graduate work (A.B.D.) in Latin American and Caribbean history, with a minor in African and African American history, at Howard University.