Raymond Ostby Arsenault (born January 6, 1948) is an American historian and academic in Florida, United States of America. He has taught at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus since 1980, co-founding the Florida Studies Program (with Gary Mormino). Arsenault is a specialist in the political, social, and environmental history of the American South. Arsenault wrote about the 1961 Freedom Rides in a 2006 book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. His work on this critical period in the civil rights movement became the basis of a two-hour 2010 television documentary film, Freedom Riders. He appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in an episode dedicated to Freedom Riders. 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.

Early life and education

Raymond Arsenault was born in Hyannis, Massachusetts, in 1948. He holds a B.A. degree in History from Princeton University (1969, magna cum laude), and an M.A. (1974) and PhD in American History from Brandeis University (1981).

Career

Arsenault has taught at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, and a 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, and the United States Information Agency. He has taught at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus, since 1980 and is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and was founding co-director of the Florida Studies Program (with Gary Mormino).

Personal life

He is married to Kathleen Hardee Arsenault, retired university library dean, and the couple have two daughters, Amelia and Anne.

Publications