He holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in history from Jacksonville State University, and he has recently completed all the requirements for a Ph.D. in history at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Sprayberry's dissertation, "Town Among the Trees: Paternalism, Class, and Civil Right sin Anniston, Alabama, 1872 to Present," examines the long struggle for civil rights in the northeast Alabama town of Anniston. The Cole attack and its surrounding circumstances form a significant part of that work.