Raymond Ostby Arsenault (born January 6, 1948) is an American historian and academic in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States of America. He has taught at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

campus since 1980 and is the

John Hope Franklin John Hope Franklin (January 2, 1915 – March 25, 2009) was an American historian of the United States and former president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Histo ...

Professor of Southern History and co-director of the Florida Studies Program (with

Gary Mormino Gary R. Mormino is an American historian, author, frequent contributor to the ''Tampa Bay Times'', the Frank E. Duckwall Professor of History Emeritus, and past director of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida St. Peter ...

). Arsenault is a specialist in the political, social, and

environmental history Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa. Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of th ...

of the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Arsenault wrote about the 1961

Freedom Rides Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions '' Morgan v. Virginia ...

in 2006. His work on the critical event in the Civil Rights Movement became the basis of the 2010 documentary, ''

Freedom Riders Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions ''Morgan v. Virginia' ...

''. He appeared on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...

'' in an episode dedicated to ''Freedom Riders''. He has been awarded the Frank L. and Harriet C. Owsley Award of the

Southern Historical Association The Southern Historical Association is a professional academic organization of historians focusing on the history of the Southern United States. It was organized on November 2, 1934. Its objectives are the promotion of interest and research in Sou ...

and the 2006 PSP Award for Excellence Honorable Mention History & American Studies.

Early life and education

Raymond Arsenault was born in

Hyannis, Massachusetts Hyannis is the largest of the seven villages in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area at the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer t ...

in 1948. He holds a B.A. in History from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

(1969,

Magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

), M.A. Brandeis University (1974) (

American History The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

), and a PhD in American History from

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

(1981).

Career

Arsenault taught at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

, and Universite d’Angers, in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, where he was a

Fulbright Lecturer The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in 1984-85. He has served as a consultant for numerous museums and public institutions, including the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, the

National Civil Rights Museum The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee; its exhibits trace the history of the civil rights movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built aro ...

, the

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the ...

Library and Museum at

Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. Troy University is accredi ...

in Alabama,Rosa Parks Museum
-

, Montgomery, Alabama and the

United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill C ...

Personal life

He is married to Kathleen Hardee Arsenault, retired University library dean. The couple have two daughters, Amelia (32) and Anne (29).About
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Publications

* Arsenault, Raymond. (2018) ''Arthur Ashe: A Life''.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

. *Arsenault, Raymond &

Vernon Burton Orville Vernon Burton is a professor of history at Clemson University, the Director of its Clemson CyberInstitute, and an author. He formerly served as Director of the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science (CHASS) and p ...

(Editors) (2013
''Dixie Redux: Essays in Honor of Sheldon Hackney''
Montgomery: New South Books. * Arsenault, Raymond. (2011) Abridged Version:
Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice
' New York: Oxford University Press. * Arsenault, Raymond. (2009)
''The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the concert that awakened America''
' New York: Bloomsbury Press. * Arsenault, Raymond. (2008) ''The Third Space of Enunciation: Proceedings of the English Department Conference'', 9–10 March 2006 (Editor)(Gabes, Tunisia: High Institute of Languages, Gabes, 2008). * Arsenault, Raymond. (2006)
Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice
' New York: Oxford University Press. * Arsenault, Raymond. (2005) ''Paradise Lost? The Environmental History of Florida''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. (Co-editor with Jack E. Davis) * Arsenault, Raymond. (2002) ''The Changing South of Gene Patterson: Journalism and Civil Rights, 1960-1968''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. (Co-editor with Roy Peter Clark) * Arsenault, Raymond. (Editor) (1991) ''Crucible of Liberty: 200 Years of the Bill of Rights''. New York: The Free Press, 1991. * Arsenault, Raymond. (1988) ''St. Petersburg and the Florida Dream, 1888-1950''. Norfolk: Donning. (2nd. Ed.: Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996) (Paperback edition, 1998)(awarded the 1990 Charlton Tebeau Prize). * 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. (1984) ''The Wild Ass of the Ozarks: Jeff Davis and the Social Bases of Southern Politics''. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. (paperback: Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1988).(awarded the 1985 Virginia Ledbetter Prize).

References

External links

Raymond Arsenault
at

Raymond Arsenault, website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arsenault, Raymond Living people Princeton University alumni Brandeis University alumni University of South Florida faculty Environmental historians 1948 births People from Hyannis, Massachusetts Historians of the United States 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Historians from Massachusetts American male non-fiction writers