Alex Haley

Who Was Alex Haley?

Alex Haley, a prominent figure in American literature, served in the U.S. Coast Guard for two decades before transitioning to a successful writing career. He gained significant recognition as the author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which he co-authored. In the 1970s, he made history with his groundbreaking work, Roots, which traced his family lineage from Gambia to the enslaved South. This Pulitzer Prize-winning book was adapted into a miniseries in 1977, becoming one of the most popular television shows of all time. Despite facing controversy over allegations of plagiarism and historical inaccuracies, Roots remains a seminal work that has profoundly impacted public discourse on race and heritage in America.

Early Life

Born Alexander Murray Palmer Haley on August 11, 1921, in Ithaca, New York, Haley grew up in a family deeply influenced by education and achievement. His father, Simon Haley, a World War I veteran, was pursuing graduate studies in agriculture at Cornell University, while his mother, Bertha, was a musician and educator. For the first years of his life, Haley, referred to as Palmer during his childhood, lived with his maternal grandparents, Cynthia and Will, in Henning, Tennessee, while his father completed his studies. Following the death of his grandfather, the family relocated back to Tennessee, where Simon Haley secured a position at Lane College. Haley held deep admiration for his father, who overcame the significant challenges posed by racism to achieve success and provide better opportunities for his children.

Haley demonstrated academic prowess, graduating from high school at the age of 15. He initially enrolled at Alcorn A&M College (now Alcorn State University) in Mississippi, before transferring to Elizabeth City State Teachers College in North Carolina. Despite his potential, Haley faced difficulties in his educational pursuits, which caused disappointment for his father.

Writing for the Coast Guard

In 1939, Haley left school to enlist in the Coast Guard, beginning as a seaman but primarily working as a mess attendant. To combat boredom during his service, he purchased a portable typewriter and began writing love letters for friends who struggled with expression. Additionally, he wrote short stories and articles, submitting them to various magazines and publishers. Although he faced numerous rejections, a few of his works were published, motivating him to continue writing.

After World War II, Haley was allowed to transition into journalism, achieving the rank of first-class petty officer in 1949. He eventually rose to the position of chief journalist, a role he maintained until his retirement in 1959, after twenty years of service. Throughout his military career, Haley received several honors, including the American Defense Service Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and an honorary degree from the Coast Guard Academy. In recognition of his contributions, a Coast Guard cutter was named in his honor: the USCGC Alex Haley.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Upon retiring from the Coast Guard in 1959, Haley pursued a freelance writing career. Although he wrote numerous articles during this period, the income was often insufficient to support him financially.

Haley’s breakthrough came in 1962 when an interview he conducted with renowned trumpeter Miles Davis was published in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine. The success of this article led to a series of interviews for the publication, known as “The Playboy Interviews,” featuring prominent African American figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Leontyne Price, Sammy Davis Jr., Quincy Jones, and Malcolm X.

Following his 1963 interview with Malcolm X, Haley sought permission to write a book about the civil rights leader’s life. The resulting work, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, became a seminal text of the civil rights movement and an international bestseller. This collaboration not only immortalized the life of Malcolm X, who was assassinated before the book’s completion, but also established Haley as a significant literary voice in American history.

Roots

Following the publication of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley was inundated with writing and lecturing offers, presenting him with the opportunity to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a successful independent writer. However, instead of settling into this success, Haley embarked on an ambitious project to trace and narrate the journey of his ancestors from Africa to America as enslaved individuals, and their subsequent rise from slavery to freedom. Over a decade, he conducted extensive research across three continents, examining enslaved ship records in archives in the United States and England, and traveling to Gambia, believed to be the ancestral homeland of his family.

In Juffure, his ancestral village, Haley listened to a tribal historian recount the tale of Kunta Kinte, his ancestor and the protagonist of Roots, detailing how Kinte was captured and sold into slavery. Despite his thorough research, Haley often felt a sense of despair regarding his ability to authentically capture the essence of his ancestors’ experiences. In a 1977 interview with Ebony magazine, he reflected, “I asked myself, what right had I to be sitting in a carpeted high-rise apartment writing about what it was like in the hold of a slave ship?”

In a quest to address this question, Haley booked passage on a ship from Liberia to America, spending his nights lying on a board in the ship’s hold, clad only in his underwear. When Roots was published in 1976, it emerged as both a fictionalized narrative and a richly detailed historical account, creating a national sensation and selling millions of copies.

A review in The New York Times Book Review stated, “No other novelist or historian has provided such a shattering, human view of slavery,” and Roots was awarded a Special Citation Pulitzer Prize in 1977. That same year, ABC adapted Roots into a television miniseries, which attracted an unprecedented 130 million viewers, with estimates suggesting that 85 percent of American households with televisions tuned in.

The miniseries featured an array of prominent actors, including LeVar Burton and John Amos as Kinte, alongside Maya Angelou, Ed Asner, Sandy Duncan, Louis Gossett Jr., George Hamilton, Carolyn Jones, Robert Reed, Madge Sinclair, Cicely Tyson, Leslie Uggams, and Ben Vereen. Many U.S. cities declared January 23-30, the week of the program’s airing, as “Roots Week.”

Plagiarism Controversy

In 1978, novelist and anthropologist Harold Courlander filed a lawsuit against Haley, alleging that he had plagiarized 81 passages from Courlander’s book The African. The two ultimately settled out of court, with Haley reportedly compensating Courlander and acknowledging the use of elements from his work. Additionally, writer Margaret Walker unsuccessfully sued Haley for alleged plagiarism of her 1966 novel, Jubilee.

The controversies surrounding Roots did not end with these lawsuits. Genealogists questioned the veracity of Haley’s portrayal of his ancestor Kinte, citing numerous chronological and historical inconsistencies. Haley later admitted that the narrative was indeed a blend of fiction and fact.

Roots Sequel and Remake

Despite these challenges, the story continued to thrive on screen with the release of Roots: The Next Generation in 1979, which traced the writer’s family lineage into contemporary times. This miniseries also performed well in ratings and featured a notable cast, including Dorian Harewood, Marlon Brando, Irene Cara, Diahann Carroll, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Henry Fonda, Debbi Morgan, and James Earl Jones, as Haley.

Decades later, in 2016, the History Channel aired a remake of the original 1977 miniseries, with Burton serving as executive producer. The cast included Malachi Kirby as Kinte, along with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Regé-Jean Page, Anna Paquin, Anika Noni Rose, T.I., Forest Whitaker, and Laurence Fishburne, as Haley.

Later Works

Haley’s subsequent works include A Different Kind of Christmas (1988) and Queen, a historical novel based on another branch of his family, which was published posthumously in 1993. Queen also became a television miniseries that aired the same year, featuring Halle Berry and Danny Glover.

Personal Life

Haley married Nannie Branche in 1941, and they remained together for 23 years before divorcing in 1964. That same year, he wed Juliette Collins; their marriage ended in 1972. He later married Myra Lewis, to whom he remained married until his death, though they were separated at the time. Haley had three children: a son and two daughters.

Death and Legacy

Haley passed away from a heart attack on February 10, 1992, in Seattle, Washington, at the age of 70.

Despite the controversies surrounding allegations of plagiarism, Haley is credited with inspiring a nationwide interest in genealogy and raising awareness about the horrors of racism and slavery in American history. While some critics have condemned him for presenting fiction as historical fact, others recognize him as a significant storyteller who, despite his missteps, illuminated broader truths.

Haley maintained that the purpose of his writing and his life was to honor the experiences of Black communities. He expressed to Ebony, “The money I have made and will be making means nothing to me compared to the fact that about half of the Black people I meet — ranging from the most sophisticated to the least sophisticated — say to me, ‘I’m proud of you.’ I feel strongly about always earning that and never letting Black people down.”