Raymond Arsenault

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. He is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and co-director of 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 2006. His work on the critical event in the Civil Rights Movement became the basis of the 2010 documentary 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.

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

Arsenault taught at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, and Universite d’Angers, in France, where he was a Fulbright Lecturer from 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 is married to Kathleen Hardee Arsenault, retired University library dean. The couple has two daughters, Amelia (32) and Anne (29).