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ALEX HALEY AS A YOUNG MAN IN THE U.S. COAST GUARD/ 2012
(  Satoshi Kinoshita )
| Series: | Prints on paper: Portraits 3 | | Medium: | Giclée on Japanese matte paper | | Size (inches): | 16.5 x 11.7 (paper size) | | Size (mm): | 420 x 297 (paper size) | | Edition size: | 25 | | Catalog #: | PP_0248 | | Description: | From an edition of 25. Signed, titled, date, copyright, edition in pencil on the reverse / Aside from the numbered edition of 5 artist's proofs and 2 printer's proofs.
"Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help."
- Alex Haley
Alex Haley -
Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992)[1] was an African-American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.[2][3][4]
Writing career:
After his retirement from the Coast Guard, Haley began his writing career, and eventually became a senior editor for Reader's Digest.
Playboy magazine:
Haley conducted the first interview for Playboy magazine. The interview, with Miles Davis, appeared in the September 1962 issue. In the interview, Davis candidly spoke about his thoughts and feelings on racism and it was that interview that set the tone for what became a significant feature of the magazine. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Playboy Interview with Haley was the longest he ever granted to any publication. Throughout the 1960s, Haley was responsible for some of the magazine's most notable interviews, including an interview with American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell, who agreed to meet with Haley only after Haley, in a phone conversation, assured him that he was not Jewish. Haley remained calm and professional during the interview, even though Rockwell kept a handgun on the table throughout it. Haley also interviewed Muhammad Ali, who spoke about changing his name from Cassius Clay. Other interviews include Jack Ruby's defense attorney Melvin Belli, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jim Brown, Johnny Carson, and Quincy Jones. He completed a memoir of Malcolm X just weeks before Malcolm X was assassinated in February 1965.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, was Haley's first book.[6] It describes the trajectory of Malcolm X's life from street criminal to national spokesman for the Nation of Islam to his conversion to Sunni Islam. It also outlines Malcolm X's philosophy of black pride, black nationalism, and pan-Africanism. Haley wrote an epilogue to the book summarizing the end of Malcolm X's life, including his assassination in New York's Audubon Ballroom.
Haley wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X based on more than 50 in-depth interviews he conducted with Malcolm X between 1963 and the activist's February 1965 assassination.[7] The two men first met in 1960 when Haley wrote an article about the Nation of Islam for Reader's Digest. They met again when Haley interviewed Malcolm X for Playboy.[8]
The first interviews for the autobiography frustrated Haley. Rather than talk about his own life, Malcolm X spoke about Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. Haley's reminders that the book was supposed to be about Malcolm X, not Muhammad or the Nation of Islam, angered the activist. After several meetings, Haley asked Malcolm X to tell him something about his mother. That question began the process of Malcolm X describing his life story.[9][10]
The Autobiography of Malcolm X has been a consistent best-seller since its 1965 publication.[11] The New York Times reported that six million copies of the book had been sold by 1977.[3] In 1998, Time named The Autobiography of Malcolm X one of the ten most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.[12]
In 1966, Haley received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Super Fly T.N.T.:
In 1973, Haley co-wrote his only screenplay, Super Fly T.N.T.. The film starred and was directed by Ron O'Neal.
Roots:
In 1976, Haley published Roots: The Saga of an American Family, a novel based on his family's history, starting with the story of Kunta Kinte, kidnapped in The Gambia in 1767 and transported to the Province of Maryland to be sold as a slave. Haley claimed to be a seventh-generation descendant of Kunta Kinte, and Haley's work on the novel involved ten years of research, intercontinental travel and writing. He went to the village of Juffure, where Kunta Kinte grew up and which is still in existence, and listened to a tribal historian tell the story of Kinte's capture.[1] Haley also traced the records of the ship, The Lord Ligonier, which he said carried his ancestor to America.
Haley has stated that the most emotional moment of his life occurred on September 29, 1967, when he stood at the site in Annapolis, Maryland where his ancestor had arrived from Africa in chains exactly 200 years before. A memorial depicting Haley reading a story to young children gathered at his feet has since been erected in the center of Annapolis.
Roots was eventually published in 37 languages, and Haley won a Special Award for the work in 1977 from the Pulitzer Board. Roots was also adapted into a popular television miniseries that year. The serial reached a record-breaking 130 million viewers. Roots emphasized that African Americans have a long history and that not all of that history is necessarily lost, as many believed. Its popularity sparked an increased public interest in genealogy, as well.
In 1979, ABC aired the sequel miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, which continued the story of Kunta Kinte's descendants, concluding with Haley's arrival in Juffure. Haley was portrayed (at various ages) by future soap opera actor Kristoff St. John, The Jeffersons actor Damon Evans, and Tony Award winner James Earl Jones.
Haley was briefly a "writer in residence" at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he began work on Roots. Many of the locals remember Haley fondly.[citation needed] He enjoyed spending time at a local bistro called "The Savoy" in Rome, New York, where he would sometimes pass the time listening to the piano player. Today, there is a special table in honor of Haley with a painting of Alex writing "Roots" on a yellow legal tablet.
Genealogists have since disputed Haley's research and conclusions. In addition, Harold Courlander, in 1978, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charging that Alex Haley, the author of Roots, had copied 81 passages from his novel.[13]
Courlander's pre-trial memorandum in the copyright infringement law suit stated: "Defendant Haley had access to and substantially copied from The African. Without The African, Roots would have been a very different and less successful novel, and indeed it is doubtful that Mr. Haley could have written Roots without the African.... Mr. Haley copied language, thoughts, attitudes, incidents, situations, plot and character."[14]
In his Expert Witness Report submitted to federal court, Professor of English, Michael Wood of Columbia University, stated: "The evidence of copying from The African in both the novel and the television dramatization of Roots is clear and irrefutable. The copying is significant and extensive.... Roots...plainly uses The African as a model: as something to be copied at some times, and at other times to be modified, but always it seems, to be consulted.... Roots takes from The African phrases, situations, ideas, aspects of style and plot. Roots finds in The African essential elements for its depiction of such things as a slave's thoughts of escape, the psychology of an old slave, the habits of mind of the hero, and the whole sense of life on an infamous slave ship. Such things are the life of a novel; and when they appear in Roots, they are the life of someone else's novel."[15]
After a five-week trial in federal district court, Courlander and Haley settled the case with a financial settlement and a statement that "Alex Haley acknowledges and regrets that various materials from The African by Harold Courlander found their way into his book Roots."[16]
During the trial, presiding U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Ward stated, "Copying there is, period."[17] In a later interview with BBC Television, Judge Ward stated, "Alex Haley perpetrated a hoax on the public."[18]
During the trial, Alex Haley had maintained that he had not read The African before writing Roots. Shortly after the trial, however, a minority studies teacher at Skidmore College, Joseph Bruchac III, came forward and swore in an affidavit that he had discussed The African with Haley in 1970 or 1971 and had, in fact, given his own personal copy of The African to Mr. Haley. This event took place a good number of years prior to the publication of Roots.[19]
References:
1. ^ a b c Wynn, Linda T.. "Alex Haley, (1921-1992)". Tennessee State University Library. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
2. ^ Stringer, Jenny (1986). Stringer, Jenny. ed. The Oxford companion to twentieth-century literature in English. Oxford University Press. p. 275. ISBN 9780192122711.
3. ^ a b Pace, Eric (February 2, 1992). "Alex Haley, 70, Author of 'Roots,' Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
4. ^ Perks, Robert; Thomson, Alistair, eds. (2003) [1998]. The Oral History Reader. Routledge. p. 9. ISBN 9780415133517.
6. ^ "Text Malcolm X Edited Found in Writer's Estate". The New York Times. September 11, 1992. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
7. ^ Haley, Alex (1992). "Alex Haley Remembers". In Gallen, David. Malcolm X: As They Knew Him. New York: Carroll & Graf. p. 243. ISBN 0-88184-850-6. Originally published in Essence, November 1983.
8. ^ Haley, "Alex Haley Remembers", pp. 243–244.
9. ^ Haley, "Alex Haley Remembers", p. 244.
10. ^ "The Time Has Come (1964–1966)". Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement 1954–1985, American Experience. PBS. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
11. ^ Seymour, Gene (November 15, 1992). "What Took So Long?". Newsday. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
12. ^ Gray, Paul (June 8, 1998). "Required Reading: Nonfiction Books". Time. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
13. ^ a b Lescaze, Lee; Saperstein, Sandra (December 15, 1978). "Bethesda Author Settles Roots Suit". The Washington Post: p. A1.
14. ^ Kaplan, Robert; Buckman, Harry; and Kilsheimer, Richard (October 17, 1978), "Plaintiffs’ Pre-Trial Memorandum and Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law", United States District Court, Southern District of New York; Harold Courlander, et ano., v. Alex Haley, et al: p. 1, Vol. I
15. ^ Kaplan, Robert; Buckman, Harry; and Kilsheimer, Richard (October 17, 1978), "Plaintiffs’ Pre-Trial Memorandum and Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law", United States District Court, Southern District of New York; Harold Courlander, et ano., v. Alex Haley, et al: p. Woods 13, Vol. III
16. ^ Stanford, Phil (April 8, 1979). "Roots and Grafts on the Haley Story". The Washington Star: p. F.1.
17. ^ Trial Transcript, United States District Court, Southern District of New York; Harold Courlander, et ano., v. Alex Haley, et al, 1978, p. 1327
18. ^ "The Roots of Alex Haley". BBC Television Documentary. 1997.
19. ^ Stanford, Phil (April 8, 1979). "Roots and Grafts on the Haley Story". The Washington Star: p. F.4.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Haley
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