Alex Haley

Who Was Alex Haley?

Alex Haley, an influential American writer and historian, dedicated two decades of his life to serving in the U.S. Coast Guard before embarking on a literary career. He began his writing journey with a series of interviews for Playboy magazine and gained notable recognition as the co-author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. In the 1970s, Haley made a significant impact on American culture with his groundbreaking work, Roots, which traced his family lineage from Gambia to the antebellum South. This Pulitzer Prize-winning book was adapted into a miniseries in 1977, becoming one of the most acclaimed television productions in history. Despite its success, Roots was not without controversy; Haley faced accusations of plagiarism and claims of historical inaccuracies. Nevertheless, the work remains a pivotal contribution to the discourse on race and identity in America.

Early Life

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was born on August 11, 1921, in Ithaca, New York. At the time of his birth, 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. In his early childhood, Haley, affectionately known as Palmer, lived with his grandparents, Cynthia and Will, in Henning, Tennessee, as his father completed his education. Following the death of his grandfather Will, the family returned to Tennessee, where Simon Haley secured a position at Lane College. Haley held great admiration for his father, who overcame significant racial challenges to achieve success and create better opportunities for his family.

Haley graduated from high school at the age of 15 and enrolled at Alcorn A&M College (now Alcorn State University) in Mississippi. After a year at Alcorn, he transferred to Elizabeth City State Teachers College in North Carolina. His academic journey was fraught with difficulties, much to the dismay of his father.

Writing for the Coast Guard

In 1939, Haley made the decision to leave school and enlist in the Coast Guard. Though he began his military career as a seaman, he was assigned to the less glamorous role of mess attendant. To combat the monotony of ship life, Haley invested in a portable typewriter, which he used to compose love letters for his less eloquent shipmates. He also dedicated time to writing short stories and articles, submitting them to various magazines and publishers in the United States. Despite facing a wave of rejection letters, the publication of a few of his stories fueled his passion for writing.

Following the end of World War II, the Coast Guard allowed Haley to transition into journalism. By 1949, he had achieved the rank of first class petty officer in the journalist category. His talent and dedication led to his promotion as chief journalist of the Coast Guard, a position he held until his retirement in 1959 after two decades of service. Throughout his career, Haley received numerous military honors, including the American Defense Service Medal and the World War II Victory Medal, as well as 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

After retiring from the Coast Guard in 1959, Haley pursued a career as a freelance writer. While he published a variety of articles during this period, the income was often insufficient to sustain him.

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

Following a 1963 interview with Malcolm X, Haley requested permission to write a book about the civil rights leader’s life. The collaboration culminated in the publication of The Autobiography of Malcolm X two years later. This pivotal work not only memorialized Malcolm X’s life—tragically cut short before the book’s completion—but also established Haley as a prominent writer.

Roots

Following the success of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Haley was inundated with offers for writing and lecturing engagements, positioning him to fulfill his dream of being a successful independent writer. However, he chose to embark on a more ambitious project: tracing the story of his ancestors’ journey from Africa to America, detailing their experiences as enslaved people and their eventual rise to freedom. Over a decade, Haley conducted extensive research across three continents, examining enslaved ship records in archives in both the United States and England. His journey also took him to Gambia, the believed homeland of his ancestors, where he listened to a tribal historian recount the capture and enslavement of Kunta Kinte, his ancestor and the protagonist of his book.

Despite his thorough research, Haley often struggled with the enormity of his task, questioning his right to narrate the experiences of his ancestors. 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 an effort to understand this legacy more deeply, he booked passage on a ship from Liberia to America, spending nights lying in the ship’s hold.

When Haley published Roots in 1976, it blended elements of fiction with a richly detailed historical narrative, ultimately sparking a national sensation and selling millions of copies. A review in The New York Times Book Review noted, “No other novelist or historian has provided such a shattering, human view of slavery.” Roots earned a Special Citation Pulitzer Prize in 1977, and that same year, ABC adapted it into a miniseries that captured the attention of a record-breaking 130 million viewers, with estimates indicating that 85 percent of American homes with televisions tuned in.

The miniseries, featuring notable actors such as LeVar Burton and John Amos as Kunta Kinte, as well as Maya Angelou, Ed Asner, and Cicely Tyson, inspired cities across the U.S. to declare January 23-30 as “Roots Week,” celebrating the cultural impact of Haley’s work.

Plagiarism Controversy

In 1978, novelist and anthropologist Harold Courlander initiated legal proceedings against Alex Haley, asserting that he had plagiarized 81 passages from Courlander’s book The African. The matter was eventually resolved through an out-of-court settlement, in which Haley reportedly compensated Courlander and his publisher, acknowledging his use of their work. Additionally, writer Margaret Walker attempted to sue Haley on similar grounds, claiming that he had plagiarized her 1966 novel, Jubilee, but her efforts were unsuccessful.

The controversy surrounding Haley’s work extended beyond these legal challenges. Genealogists questioned the veracity of Haley’s narrative regarding his purported ancestor Kunta Kinte, citing numerous chronological and historical inconsistencies. Ultimately, Haley admitted that Roots represented a blend of fiction and fact.

‘Roots’ Sequel and Remake

Despite these controversies, Roots maintained its popularity, leading to a sequel titled Roots: The Next Generation, which aired in 1979 and chronicled the author’s family history up to contemporary times. The miniseries received strong 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 in the role of Haley. In 2016, the History Channel produced a remake of the original 1977 miniseries, with LeVar Burton serving as executive producer. This version starred Malachi Kirby as Kinte, alongside 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 publications include A Different Kind of Christmas (1988) and Queen, another historical novel based on a different branch of his family, which was released posthumously in 1993. Queen was also adapted into a television miniseries that aired the same year, featuring Halle Berry and Danny Glover.

Personal Life

Haley married Nannie Branche in 1941, and the couple remained together for 23 years before divorcing in 1964. That same year, he married Juliette Collins, but they separated in 1972. He later wed Myra Lewis, to whom he was married until his death, though they were separated at that 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 regarding plagiarism, Haley is credited with igniting a nationwide interest in genealogy and fostering a deeper awareness of the atrocities of racism and slavery within American history. While some critics have accused Haley of presenting fiction as historical fact, others regard him as a significant storyteller who, despite his transgressions, 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.”