JEANERETTE, La. --- Russel Long was born into politics as the son of one of the most famous Louisiana governors. His career will be brought to life at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20 at the Jeanerette Museum located at 500 E. Main St. in Jeanerette.
Michael Martin, a professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and author of the new book "Russell Long: A Life in Politics," will discuss the Long family and how they have affected Louisiana politics.
The Long family and its followers pervaded Louisiana politics from the late 1920s through the 1980s. Being a Long---especially a son of Huey Long---preordained Russell for a political life. His father's assassination set the wheels in motion for his eventual political career. "Russell Long: A Life in Politics" examines Long's public life and places it within the context of twentieth-century Louisiana, southern and national politics.
Martin is the director of the Center of Louisiana Studies and an associate professor in UL Lafayette's Department of History. He leads courses on Louisiana, Public History, and the U. S. South, and supervises graduate student research in those fields. He also serves as managing editor of the state's historical journal, Louisiana History.
Martin's research interests focus on 20th-century Louisiana and southern history. Besides "Russell Long: A Life in Politics," his publications include an edited volume entitled "Louisiana Beyond Black and White: Recent Interpretations of Twentieth-Century Race and Race Relations" and a pictorial history of Lafayette, "Historic Lafayette."
A Lafayette native, Martin earned both his B.A. (1994) and M.A. (1997) in history from the then-University of Southwestern Louisiana. He earned his Ph.D in American History at the University of Arkansas and, for two years prior to returning to UL Lafayette, worked as a research associate at the Albert Gore, Sr. Research Center of Middle Tennessee State University. He has taught at UL Lafayette since 2003.
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