Donald Richard Deskins is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professor of urban geography and sociology and a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1932 and attended Westbury High School

Westbury High School (Old Westbury, New York)

Westbury Senior High School is a ninth-through-12th-grade school of the Westbury Union Free School District , the district covering the village of Westbury, New York...

. He served in the United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 before enrolling at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 in 1957. He received several degrees from the University of Michigan, including a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960, an Master of Arts degree in 1963, and a Ph.D. in 1971. During his undergraduate study at Michigan, Deskins played college football as a tackle

Tackle (American football)

Tackle is a playing position in American and Canadian football. Historically, in the one-platoon system a tackle played on both offense and defense. In the modern system of specialized units, offensive tackle and defensive tackle are separate positions....

 for the Michigan Wolverines football

Michigan Wolverines football

The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...

 teams in 1958 and 1959. After receiving his Bachelor's degree in 1960, he played professional football for the Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in their inaugural season in the American Football League

American Football League

The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...

. Deskins has published extensively. His works include:

• Letters to President Obama (2009), co-authored with Hanes Walton and Josephine A. V. Allen
• Presidential Elections, 1789-2008, co-authored with Hanes Walton and Sherman Puckett
• Residential mobility of Negroes in Detroit, 1837-1965 (1972)
• Negro settlement in Ann Arbor (1962)
• Interaction patterns and the spatial form of the ghetto (1970), co-authored with David Ward and Harold M. Rose
• Geographical literature on the American Negro, 1949-1968 (1969)