Larry Eugene Rivers

Larry Eugene Rivers (born 1950) is a college president, history professor, and author in the U.S.^[1]

Biography and education

He was born in the Sharon Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[2] He has a Master's degree from Villanova. He received doctorate degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of London.^[3] His thesis for the University of London was "Florida's Dissenters, Rebels, and Runaways: Territorial Days to Emancipation."^[4]

He married Betty Jean Hubbard, who worked for the City of Tallahassee^[5] and has two sons, a history professor and a lawyer. He is Baptist.^[6]

Professional career

He served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida A&M University where he was a colleague of Canter Brown Jr. In 2006 he became the president of his alma mater Fort Valley State University. He held that role until 2013. He was a history professor at Valdosta State University (VSU) in Valdosta, Georgia from 2013 to 2017.

Bibliography

• Laborers in the Vineyard of the Lord: The Beginnings of the AME Church in Florida, 1865–1895. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001 (with Canter Brown Jr.)
• Slavery in Florida: Territorial Days to Emancipation University Press of Florida, 2009.^[7]
• The Varieties of Women's Experiences: Portraits of Southern Women in the Post-Civil War Century. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010. (with Canter Brown, co-ed.)
• Mary Edwards Bryan : Her Early Life and Works University Press of Florida, 2016. (with Canter Brown Jr.)
• Rebels and Runaways: Slave Resistance in 19th Century Florida. University of Illinois Press, 2017.^[8][9][10]
• Father James Page: An Enslaved Preacher's Climb to Freedom. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021.