Author Talk – Raymond Arsenault

Raymond Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History emeritus at the University of South Florida. Educated at Princeton and Brandeis, he is one of the nation’s leading civil rights historians and the author of several widely acclaimed and prize-winning books, including Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice (2006), The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America (2009), and Arthur Ashe, A Life (2018). His most recent book, published in January 2024 as a volume in Yale University Press’s new Black Lives series, is John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community. The 2011 PBS American Experience documentary Freedom Riders, based on his book, won three Emmys and a George Peabody Award. He has also served as a consultant for numerous civil rights museums and documentary film projects, including the 2022 PBS American Masters documentary Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands. Honored with lifetime achievement awards in writing by both the Florida Historical Society and the Florida Humanities Council, he is also the recipient of numerous human rights and civil liberties awards, several in recognition of his thirty years as a leader of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Share & Save This Event