Historian Raymond Arsenault to speak at UL on His Classic Work "The Air Conditioner and Southern Culture"

The Burdin Professorship, held by Dr. Liz Skilton, and the Center for Louisiana Studies welcome Dr. Raymond Arsenault for the 2024 Burdin Lecture.

The Lecture

Co-founder of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida, Dr. Arsenault is a renowned civil rights historian. For the Burdin Professorship lecture, Dr. Arsenault will revisit his 1985 essay “The End of the Long, Hot Summer: the Air Conditioner and Southern Culture.” This talk focuses on the intersection of climate vulnerability and race in the economic development of the South.

Arsenault has won several best book awards. 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.

The Professorship

The intent of the Burdin Professorship is to enhance the University's leadership role in promoting the knowledge of Louisiana's historical and cultural heritage.
The Burdin Professorship, held by Dr. Liz Skilton through 2024, is awarded to enhance campus and community dialogue on topics or issues in Louisiana studies. "Louisiana" should be broadly defined to include the historical territory of Louisiana.
The J. J. Burdin and Helen B. Burdin Professorship is awarded to full-time scholars whose accomplishments contribute to the development of the University's leadership role in furthering the understanding of Louisiana's culture, society, and heritage.

March 7th, 2024
5-7 p.m.
Reception to follow
UL Lafayette Student Union
620 McKinley Street
Room 116