Friends, Family Pay Tribute to Wayne Greenhaw, Noted Civil Rights Author

Alvin Benn, Montgomery Advertiser writes ...

One of Alabama's most pro­lific writers, Greenhaw com­pleted 22 books and was work­ing on another when he died. Flynt traced Greenhaw's back­ground, from his difficult child­hood in which he suffered from polio and his recuperative peri­od that "drove him into an imaginary world of books."


After a part-time job as a sports reporter for the Tusca­loosa News, Greenhaw found his calling when he hit the journalistic jackpot at the Alabama Journal, where he had a chance to record histo­ry on almost a daily basis.

"History could hardly have placed him in a better locale at a more important time with so astounding a cast of characters," said Flynt, who then rattled off the names of newsmakers such as George Wallace, Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, Fred Gray and many more. Greenhaw ar­rived in Montgomery at a time when terrorists were bombing homes and church­es, and there were brutal ra­cial murders and compliant city and state officials. Regu­lar Ku Klux Klan and White Citizens Council rallies fre­quently made news, "and he reported it," Flynt said.

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