Tavis Smiley wears many hats. He is a best-selling author, PBS TV and NPR Talk Show Host, a film producer/director and last year, was added to TIME magazine's list of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People.”

Now Smiley can add curator to his list of accomplishments. Smiley's groundbreaking exhibition, America I AM, The African American Imprint is now on view at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. The exhibit, celebrates nearly 500 years of African-American contributions to our country and the world. Smiley is the presenter and creative force behind this unprecedented traveling exhibition, which will tour the country for four years, celebrating the extraordinary impact of African American contributions as told through rare artifacts, memorabilia, and multimedia.

Smiley said on his weekly radio show on Public Radio International, that he wanted “America I Am” to be the “biggest, baddest, boldest exhibition ever to tell the story of the African-American contribution in this country.”

To do this, he coaxed John Fleming, Director Emeritus of Museums, at the Cincinnati Museum Center, out of retirement to serve as Executive Producer.

He also called on celebrity friends. He received permission from TV icon Norman Lear to exhibit his rare copy of the Declaration of Independence, which Lear purchased for more than $8 million. He also asked basketball icon Earvin “Magic” Johnson and musician Prince, among others he has interviewed, for personal items to display.

Highlights include the robe boxer Muhammad Ali wore as he trained in Kinshasa, Zaire, for the famous Rumble in the Jungle fight in 1974. Ali defeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman to reclaim his former title.

“Doors of No Return” are the weathered wooden doors, on loan from the country of Ghana. Slaves passed through these doors from a dungeon-like holding area to a ship where they were transported in shackles to the New World. There's Rosa Park’s fingerprint card from her 1955 arrest in Mongomery, Ala. and other Civil Rights Memorabilia.

America I Am is an historic 'must see' exhibition of summer!