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Biography
Primary Bibliography
Secondary Bibliography
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Alex Haley
Names: Alexander Murray Palmer Haley
Born: August 11, 1921
Died: February 10, 1992
Ethnicity: African American
Hometown: Henning, TN
Residence: San Francisco, CA
Education: Some college
Career: Member U.S. Coast Guard, 1939-1959; Freelance Writer, 1959-1992;
Founder and President Kinte Corporation, 1972-1992; Board Member New College
of California, 1974; Film Producer Palmerstown, USA, 1980; Advisor
African American Heritage Association, ?
Awards: Numerous Awards, including Special Citations from the National
Book Award Committee and the Pulitzer Prize Award Committee, for Roots,
1977; Spingarn Medal, 1977; Nominated to Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
for Palmerstown, USA, 1981; Litt Ds from Simpson College, 1971;
Howard, 1974; Williams College, 1975; Capitol, 1975; PhD Seton Hall, 1974
Genres: Novels, Nonfiction
Internet Sites:
- The Kunta Kinte - Alex Haley
Foundation
Dedicated to keeping Alex Haley's Roots message alive by fostering the
exploration, rediscovery, and preservation of African American history,
culture, archaeology, and genealogy.
Biography:
Alex Haley was the oldest child of Bertha and Simon Haley, two graduate
students living in Ithaca, New York. Since his parents' educational
circumstances made it difficult for them to care for a newborn, Haley
was sent to his maternal relatives in Henning, Tennessee. There
he grew up hearing the stories his grandmother and great aunts told
about family history. He was particularly fascinated by the story
of Kintay, a slave who refused to go by his slave name, Toby, and tried
to escape from the plantation.
Haley was not an outstanding student, maintaining only a C average,
but he graduated from high school at the age of fifteen. He attended
Alcorn A&M in Mississippi, then transferred to Elizabeth City State
Teachers College. At seventeen, however, he left school and joined
the U.S. Coast Guard. To allay the boredom of long voyages, Haley began
writing in his free time. Although he received his share of rejection
notices, eventually he met with some success. Several of his articles
were published, and he became a Coast Guard journalist.
Haley put in his twenty years, retiring in 1959 at the age of 37.
He was far from old, however, and decided to embark upon a second career
as a writer. Unfortunately, his military pension was not available
for him to live on. He had divorced his first wife soon after
he retired, and his pension was arrogated by the court to pay child
support. Haley moved to Greenwich Village to become a writer,
living on savings and borrowed money until he could establish himself.
He nearly ran out of money before achieving his dream, although he clung
stubbornly to his goal.
Commissions and acceptances slowly began rolling in. He wrote
for Playboy and Readers Digest; he also expanded one of
his feature articles into his first book. He had been asked to
write a feature on Malcolm X, the controversial African American militant.
He expanded this article into The Autobiography of Malcolm X,
a bestseller and critical favorite. A few weeks after finishing
the book, Haley began researching his family's genealogy.
Haley spent twelve years researching and writing Roots, visiting
archives, interviewing relatives, and even traveling to Liberia and
taking a ship from there to America to help him recreate the "Middle
Passage". The book tells the story of how
Haley's maternal ancestors came to the United States and what happened
to them there. The book begins with Kinte (or Kintay) the ancestor
who had so intrigued Haley as a child, and follows the family to 1870.
It details oppression, but also the survival of the human
spirit despite profound suffering.
Haley's obsession was vindicated by the phenomenal success of the book.
It won 271 awards, sold 8.5 million copies, and was made into one of
the best-rated television shows ever broadcast. The success of
the book and show made Haley a millionaire. The literary quality
of Haley's work is difficult to estimate given the popular success that
surrounds it. While at times melodramatic, the book's success
attests to its power to move readers to sympathy and identification.
References:
- Kern-Foxworth, Marilyn. "Alex Haley."
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 38, Thadious M. Davis
and Trudier Harris, eds. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985.
--Jennifer Duke-Sylvester
Primary Bibliography:
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Grove, 1965.
- Roots: The Saga of an American Family. New York: Doubleday,
1976.
- A Different Kind of Christmas. New York: Doubleday, 1988.
- Alex Haley's Queen: the Story of an American Family. New
York: W. Morrow, 1993.
- With David Stevens. Mama Flora's Family: a Novel. New York:
Scribner, 1998.
Manuscripts:
Secondary Bibliography:
- Alex Haley: The Search for Roots. WNET 13 Educational Broadcasting.
Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities, 1977.
- Bloom, Harold, editor. Alex Haley & Malcolm X's the Autobiography
of Malcolm X. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1996.
- Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, v. 61. Detroit:
Gale Research, 1997.
- Davis, Thadious M., and Trudier Harris, editors. Dictionary of
Literary Biography, v. 38. Detroit: Gale Research, 1985.
- Gamble, David P. Postmortem: a Study of the Gambian Section
of Alex Haley's 'Roots'. Brisbane, Calif. : [D.P. Gamble, 2000]
- Shirley, David. Alex Haley. New York: Chelsea House Publishers,
1994.
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