Alex Haley

Alex Haley
Haley in 1980
Haley in 1980
BornAlexander Murray Palmer Haley
(1921-08-11)August 11, 1921
Ithaca, New York, U.S.[1]
DiedFebruary 10, 1992(1992-02-10) (aged 70)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
OccupationCoast Guardsman, writer
Years active1939–1992
Spouse
Nannie Branch
(m. 1941; div. 1964)

Juliette Collins
(m. 1964; div. 1972)

Myran Lewis
(m. 1977)
[2]
RelativesSimon Haley (father)
George W. Haley (brother)
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
BranchUnited States Coast Guard
Years of service1939–1959
RankChief Petty Officer

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992)[1] was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States, the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of black American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history.[3]

Haley's first book was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, a collaboration through numerous lengthy interviews with Malcolm X.[4][5][6]

He was working on a second family history novel at his death. Haley had requested that David Stevens, a screenwriter, complete it; the book was published as Queen: The Story of an American Family. It was adapted as a miniseries, Alex Haley's Queen, broadcast in 1993.

  1. ^ a b Wynn, Linda T. "Alex Haley, (1921–1992)". Tennessee State University Library. Archived from the original on August 3, 2004. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  2. ^ "The anguish of Alex Haley's widow with her husband's literary legacy dispersed, she's locked in a bitter probate battle". Phoenix New Times. November 11, 1992. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  3. ^ Thompson, Krissah (November 14, 2017). "Her mother said they descended from 'a president and a slave.' What would their DNA say?". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  4. ^ Stringer, Jenny (ed), The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English (1986), Oxford University Press, p 275
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference TimesObit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Perks, Robert; Thomson, Alistair, eds. (2003) [1998]. The Oral History Reader. Routledge. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-415-13351-7. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2015.