Dr. Richard B. Sheridan was born in Emporia, Kansas, on February 10, 1918. He received a Bachelors of Science in commerce from Kansas State Teachers College (now Emporia State University) in 1940, a Masters of Education in 1947 from the University of Kansas, and his Ph.D. in Economic History from the University of London in 1951. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946, achieving the rank of Lieutenant and serving on the U.S.S. Kretchmer.

Sheridan taught as a high school teacher in 1940-1941 and at the University of Kansas from 1952-1988, becoming a full professor in 1963 and receiving emeritus status in 1988. He was a visiting professor at the College of the Virgin Islands (1971) and The University of the West Indies, Trinidad (1987).

Sheridan received numerous honors and grants, being a Fulbright Reseach Scholar and receiving a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), amongst other awards. He published over 50 papers and manuscripts, his major area of research and study focusing on the slave trade in the Caribbean. During his retirement, Sheridan studied and wrote much about Kansas history. Books Sheridan wrote include but are not limited to Sugar and Slavery: An Economic History of the British West Indies, Doctors and Slaves: A Medical and Demographic History of Slavery in the British West Indies, 1680-1834, and Freedom's Crucible: The Underground Railroad in Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas, 1854-1865.

Dr. Richard Sheridan married Audrey Marion Sheridan, and they had two children, Richard David Sheridan and Margaret Anne Sheridan. Richard B. Sheridan passed away in April 2002.