Sports illuminate and transform a society. Sports change lives, affect politics, fuel our economy, and shape our culture. The American Dream is personified in our champions, in the records they set and the barriers they break. The dynamic interaction of athletes, fans, and the media produces inexplicable loyalties, lasting legends, and revered heroes. The greatest champions stand for more than the records they break. They stand for the barriers they shatter—physical, social, psychological, racial, cultural—and change the way we think about our world.

Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers portrays athletes from more than a dozen sports. Highlighting artifacts from the Smithsonian's sports collection, the exhibition spotlights the pioneering men and women who dominated their sports; championed their country, race, or sex; and helped others to achieve. Both on and off the playing field, these undaunted individuals broke records for themselves and broke barriers for us all.

Ellen Roney Hughes, Curator