Wayne Flynt, Professor Emeritus, is Editor-in-Chief of the new Online Encyclopedia of Alabama, which is the product of a partnership between the Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University. Flynt is a leading authority on Alabama history and Baptist history in Alabama. He was inducted into the 2005 Communication Hall of Fame, which honors communication personalities who have brought lasting fame to the state, at The University of Alabama.
He is the author of eleven books, including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Poor But Proud: Alabama's Poor Whites. His most recent book, Alabama in the Twentieth Century, was awarded the 2004 Anne B. and James B. McMillan Prize. Also in 2004, his book Dixie's Forgotten People: The South's Poor Whites was re-issued. Flynt's books have won many awards, some multiple times, including: the Lillian Smith Award for Non-Fiction, the Alabama Library Association Award for Non-Fiction, Outstanding Academic Book from the American Library Association, and the James F. Sulzby, Jr. Book Award. He is co-author of Alabama: A History of a Deep South State, which was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Flynt has actively devoted his life to bringing the issues of history and poverty and their social impact to the forefront of the public's consciousness. He was educated at Samford University, formerly Howard College (A.B.,1961), and Florida State University (M.S., 1962; Ph.D. 1965).