Literature

Alex Haley

Born August 11, 1921 · Ithaca, New York · Joined the Ancestors February 10, 1992

The author of Roots — Alex Haley traced his family's lineage back to Africa and gave millions of Americans, Black and white, their first real understanding of the horror and resilience of the enslaved experience.

Known For

Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Also Wrote

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Impact

130 million viewers watched the Roots miniseries

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was born in Ithaca, New York and grew up in Henning, Tennessee, where his grandmother told him stories of their African ancestor "Kunta Kinte." After 20 years in the Coast Guard, he became a freelance writer and conducted the famous Playboy interviews.

In 1965, he co-wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which became one of the most important books in American history. But his masterwork was Roots: The Saga of an American Family, published in 1976, which traced his ancestry back seven generations to a village in Gambia, West Africa.

The 1977 television adaptation of Roots became the most-watched miniseries in American history, with over 130 million viewers. It fundamentally changed how Americans understood slavery and inspired a genealogy movement that continues today. Haley won a special Pulitzer Prize for the work.