John Archibald (born April 1963[1]) is an American newspaper reporter and columnist for Al.com (Alabama Media Group).

[2] His father was a Methodist minister and the family moved several times as he was assigned to different churches, finishing his career in Decatur.

[3] Archibald attended Banks High School in Birmingham, graduating in 1981,[4] and in 1986 earned a degree in journalism from the University of Alabama.

[2] He was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary[6] "for lyrical and courageous commentary that is rooted in Alabama but has a national resonance";[2][7] among topics of his writing in the previous year were Roy Moore's candidacy in the 2017 special election for the United States Senate,[2][7] Governor Robert Bentley, and the controversy over Confederate monuments,[7] but also the bribery of state politician Oliver Robinson.

It examines the failure of the Methodist Church and of his own father to support the 1960s Civil Rights struggle in the South.