Two-time Pulitzer winner, columnist, podcaster and author John Archibald will deliver the 2024 Hallie Farmer Lecture in LeBaron Recital Hall at Davis Hall on the University of Montevallo campus Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Q&A session and book signing.
Archibald has been a journalist in the South for more than 35 years. He is a voice of the deep South and what that place means to America.
Archibald is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, “Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution,” published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2021 and included as one of NPR’s favorite books of the year.
He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2020-2021, and taught column writing at Harvard Summer School. While at Harvard he studied alternative storytelling and how algorithms in digital news affect perceptions of crime and contribute to polarization. He was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer for commentary. The Pulitzer Prize jury described his columns as “lyrical and courageous commentary that is rooted in Alabama but has a national resonance in scrutinizing corrupt politicians, championing the rights of women and calling out hypocrisy.”
Archibald was lead reporter on the 2023 Pulitzer for Local Reporting, which examined out-of-control policing in the tiny Alabama town of Brookside. That work led prosecutors and judges to drop scores of felony charges against drivers, and convinced the Alabama Legislature to pass four laws to discourage the kind of behavior he uncovered in Brookside. The team included his son, data reporter Ramsey Archibald, along with reporter Ashley Remkus and editor Challen Stephens. The Brookside story also won national awards, including the George Polk Award for local reporting, the Sidney Hillman Award for web journalism and a Best-in-Show National Headliner Award.
The Hallie Farmer Lectures bring distinguished figures in the social sciences to the University of Montevallo for lectures and informal appearances. Guests have ranged from a former U.S. secretary of state to a Russian-American documentary filmmaker. The lecture series was established in 1985 in memory of Montevallo professor and civic leader Hallie Farmer.
