Dr. Spruill is a distinguished educator, scholar, genealogist, organizer, theologian, and fine artist. During his eclectic career he expressed a commitment to progressive community development and social activism. His scholarship and art are infused with social concerns and historical research that impacts local public policy. He is a former city public school educator and currently a retired Morehouse College professor. He authored multiple articles, publications and is an award-winning photographer. He was appointed Municipal Historian (1988). For decades, he scanned and archived a diverse range of Mount Vernon documents and photographs. He successfully resurrected centuries of forgotten people, places and deeds worthy of public memory. Dr. Spruill continues to create new local preservation opportunities to keep Mount Vernon’s rich past alive for residents to observe, study and use in the present and future.
During his tenure he published and revealed his findings indicating alternative views of Mount Vernon diversity and its impact in the County. He co-founded the Association of Community-Based Artists of Westchester (AC-BAW Center for the Arts Gallery,1976). He was the lead historian for the Westchester County African American Historic Trail (1999). He was the inaugural awardee of the County’s Trailblazer in History (2009). Dr. Spruill was the first African American to receive the Westchester County Historical Society’s prestigious Sy Schulman Award (2018).
He is a leading authority on Dr. Martin Luther King and the use of cameras as nonviolent weapons social justice protest. His dissertation “Southern Exposure, Photojournalism and the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968” remains seminal research. He served as consultant for the Emmy Award winning, Eyes On The Prize (1986), and adviser for the documentary Decisive Moments (BBC 1999), a review of important photographs of the 20th century. He is called to speak on a wide range of topics by local, state and national organizations. Having traveled to nearly every continent and region of the world. He is an authentic global citizen. He is currently writing a historical novel and composing a fifty-year retrospective of his photographs. Importantly, Dr. Spruill has committed his life to the community which nurtured him—Mount Vernon, New York. For more : http://www.larryspruill.net/