Javier Wallace

Javier Wallace is the Race and Sport Postdoctoral Associate in the Program in Education at Duke University. He completed his Ph.D. at The University of Texas at Austin. Javier is a scholar, speaker, and founder working to uncover and amplify the undertold stories of Black athletes across the Americas. His forthcoming book, Basketball Trafficking: Stolen Black Panamanian Dreams (Duke University Press, Nov. 2025), exposes the global pipeline that moves young athletes across borders and into exploitative systems. This isn’t just theory, it’s lived experience, academic research, and policy urgency, all in one.

He has spoken on these issues from TEDx stages to national classrooms, and was featured in the Sport Emmy-nominated Vice docuseries Scam Dunk. He co-produced and co-directed CB: Power to the Player, the film on Duke’s first Black basketball player, Claudius “CB” Claiborne. His work has also appeared on CNN, ESPN, Travel Channel, and Airbnb.

As the founder of Black Austin Tours, he built one of the most visible cultural storytelling brands in the region, bringing history, place, and narrative together for tens of thousands of guests. That work led to collaborations with corporate partners, public institutions, and educators seeking ways to engage audiences through immersive storytelling and heritage tourism.

Bio updated October 2025