Raymond Arsenault

Raymond Arsenault (born January 6, 1948) is an American historian and academic, and the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and co-director of the Florida Studies Program (with Gary Mormino)^[1] at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, where he has taught since 1980. He is best known for his 2006 work on the 1961 Freedom Rides, a critical event in the Civil Rights movement, which later became the basis of 2010 documentary, Freedom Riders, and also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show on a show dedicated to Freedom Riders.^[2][3][4] He has been awarded the Frank L. and Harriet C. Owsley Award of the Southern Historical Association and the 2006 PSP Award for Excellence Honorable Mention History & American Studies.^[5]

A specialist in the political, social, and environmental history of the American South.

Early life and education

Raymond Ostby Arsenault was born in Hyannis, Massachusetts in 1948. He holds a B.A. in History from Princeton University (1969, Magna cum laude), M.A. Brandeis University (1974) (American History) and a PhD in American History from Brandeis University (1981).^[6]

Career

Arsenault has also taught at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, and at the Universite d’Angers, in France, where he was a Fulbright Lecturer in 1984-85. He has served as a consultant for numerous museums and public institutions, including the National Park Service, the National Civil Rights Museum, the Rosa Parks Library and Museum at Troy University in Alabama,^[7] and the United States Information Agency.

Personal life

He is married to Kathleen Hardee Arsenault, retired University library dean and the couple have daughters, Amelia (32), Anne (29).^[6]

Publications

Books:

• Arsenault, Raymond. (2006) Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice New York: Oxford University Press.
• Arsenault, Raymond. (2011) Abridged Version: Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice New York: Oxford University Press.
• Arsenault, Raymond. (1984) "The End of the Long Hot Summer: The Air Conditioner and Southern Culture. Journal of Southern History. 50(4): 597-628.
• Arsenault, Raymond. The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the concert that awakened America (2009). ISBN 1-59691-578-1
• Arsenault, Raymond. The Wild Ass of the Ozarks: Jeff Davis and the Social Bases of Southern Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984. (paperback: Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1988).(awarded the 1985 Virginia Ledbetter Prize).
• Arsenault, Raymond. St. Petersburg and the Florida Dream, 1888-1950. Norfolk: Donning, 1988. (2nd. Ed.: Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996) (Paperback edition, 19 98)(awarded the 1990 Charlton Tebeau Prize).
• Arsenault, Raymond. Crucible of Liberty: 200 Years of the Bill of Rights. (Editor) New York: The Free Press, 1991.
• Arsenault, Raymond. The Changing South of Gene Patterson: Journalism and Civil Rights, 1960-1968. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2002. (Co-editor with Roy Peter Clark)
• Arsenault, Raymond. Paradise Lost? The Environmental History of Florida. Gainesville:University Press of Florida, 2005. (Co-editor with Jack E.Davis)
• Arsenault, Raymond. The Third Space of Enunciation: Proceedings of the English Department Conference, 9–10 March 2006 (Editor)(Gabes, Tunisia: High Institute of Languages, Gabes, 2008).

References

External links

• Raymond Arsenault at University of South Florida
• Raymond Arsenault, website