On Sept. 10, 2011, “Freedom Riders”—the film based on USF St. Petersburg history professor Ray Arsenault’s 2006 book “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice”—won three Emmy awards. The film won in all three categories nominated; Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking, Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Picture Editing for
Nonfiction Programming.
The film was made for PBS American Experience by filmmaker Stanley Nelson and was funded by a grant to WGBH Boston from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010 as an official selection.
“Freedom Riders” was also featured during one of Oprah Winfrey’s final episodes, in which she reunited all living Freedom Riders for the first time since 1961. Arsenault spent 10 years working on the book, which was published in its abridged form this year.
“It’s been quite a year, between Oprah and the Emmys,” Arsenault said. But Arsenault isn’t quite finished with his whirlwind year—he is set to visit the White House in October.
Arsenault is a featured author at this year’s St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading on Saturday, Oct. 22.
