Alex Haley

Alex Haley (1921-1992), American author, whose books helped popularize the study of black history and genealogy. Born in Ithaca, New York, Haley was educated at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College and at Elizabeth City Teachers College. From 1939 to 1959 he served in the United States Coast Guard, where he worked as a journalist. After retiring from the Coast Guard, Haley moved to New York City to pursue a writing career. In 1962 he interviewed American trumpeter Miles Davis for Playboy magazine. Also for Playboy, Haley interviewed American political activist Malcolm X, with whom he later collaborated to write The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965). The book, which recounts the life of Malcolm X and the evolution of his political and religious thought, had a strong influence on black nationalists. It also received praise from critics and was widely read in colleges and universities.

After the success of The Autobiography, Haley began to research and write what would become his best-known work, Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976). The book, a mixture of fact and fiction, chronicles Haley's ancestral history and the methods he used to trace his lineage to a West African village. To write the work, Haley invented certain unknown details of his family history. The series of character portraits that he created caused many Americans to become interested in genealogy. Roots, for which Haley received special citations from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award committees in 1977, was translated into 26 languages and made into a television miniseries (1977). An estimated 130 million Americans viewed at least one episode of the eight-part series.