NEH to distribute “Freedom Riders” documentary to 500 U.S. communities

Posted March 22, 2013 at 12:28 pm by Tom Scherberger

Ray Arsenault at the U.S. Supreme Court with former student Earl Lewis, Ph.D., president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

In observance of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the National Endowment for the Humanities will distribute Freedom Riders, the documentary film based on USF St. Petersburg professor Raymond Arsenault’s award-winning book, to 500 U.S. communities. It is one of four films the NEH will distribute as part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle. … Continue reading →

Witnessing history in Washington, D.C., with someone who made history

Posted January 24, 2013 at 3:02 pm by Tom Scherberger

Dr. Ray Arsenault (right) attended President Obama's inauguration with Carol Ruth Silver, one of the Freedom Riders.

Ray Arsenault, Ph.D., the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History at USF St. Petersburg, attended the inauguration of President Obama on Monday with one of the Freedom Riders whose story he told in an award-winning book. Carol Ruth Silver was a recent college graduate working at the United Nations when she joined the Freedom Riders movement to protest the … Continue reading →

Freedom Riders film, PBS series honored with Peabody Award

Posted May 25, 2012 at 7:19 am by Tom Scherberger

ST. PETERSBURG (May 25, 2012) – Ray Arsenault, the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History at the USF St. Petersburg Florida Studies Program, was in New York City for the Peabody Awards this week as part of the team that produced the PBS documentary Freedom Riders. The film, based on Arsenault’s book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for … Continue reading →

Freedom Riders Documentary Nominated for Three Emmy Awards

Posted September 13, 2011 at 10:13 am by Melanie Marquez

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (September 13, 2011) – The documentary based on Ray Arsenault’s award-winning book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, has won awards in three categories of the Primetime Emmy Awards from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award categories for the documentary Freedom Riders, directed by Stanley Nelson and produced by Laurens Grant, … Continue reading →

Freedom Riders Film Premieres on PBS Monday, May 16 at 9 p.m.

Posted May 12, 2011 at 12:15 pm by Melanie Marquez

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (May 13, 2011) – The Freedom Riders documentary, based on the book by USFSP Professor Ray Arsenault, premieres Monday, May 16 at 9 p.m. on PBS stations around the country. In the Tampa Bay area it will air on WEDU. In advance of the national premiere, Arsenault has traveled with a group of 40 college students from … Continue reading →