Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (1921 - 1992)

Born 11 Aug 1921 in Ithaca, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died 10 Feb 1992 in Seattle, Washington, United States

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Biography

"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past and bridge to our future. " ~ Alex Haley"

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was born August 11, 1921, in Ithaca, New York to Simon Haley and Bertha George Palmer. His father was a professor of agriculture at Alabama A&M University. Alex was the oldest of three brothers and one sister.

At the age of 15, Alex enrolled at Alcorn State University then a year later at Elizabeth City State College. The next year he returned home to let his father know he had withdrawn from school. Simon felt his son needed more discipline and convinced Alex to join the military. At the age of 18, Alex joined the Coast Guard, a decision that would lead to a 20 year military career.

It was during his service in the Pacific during WWII that Alex taught himself the art of story writing. It's said that other sailors would pay him to write love letters to their girlfriends. Alex said that their greatest enemy wasn't the Japanese forces but instead boredom.

After retiring from the military, Alex began his writing career and eventually became a senior editor of Reader's Digest.

Alex conducted the first interview for Playboy magazine with Miles Davis in the September 1962 issue. He had many notable interviews including Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Johnny Carson, Quincy Jones, Sammy Davis Jr. and American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell.

Haley's first book, published in 1965, was The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It described the path that Malcolm X followed from street criminal to national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. It was the culmination of 50 in-depth interviews that Alex had with Malcolm between 1963 and 1965.

In 1976, Alex published a novel based on his family's history called Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

"Roots" was eventually published in 37 languages and Alex won a special Pulitzer Prize for it in 1977. That same year, ABC adapted "Roots" into a miniseries that would become very popular.

Alex died February 10, 1992, in Seattle, Washington, from a heart attack.

“In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage- to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness. ” - Alex Haley

Sources

• Wikipedia: Alex Haley

• Wikipedia: Roots: The Saga of an American Family

• Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011. Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration. Ancestry.com link

• Alex's FindAGrave memorial

• "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5D-7RW3 : accessed 20 February 2016), Alex Haley, Tennessee, United States, 19 Feb 2012; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing , born-digital text.

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWS3-PJY : accessed 20 February 2016), Alexander P Haley, Ward 1, New Bern, Township 8, Craven, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 25-17, sheet 9A, family , NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 2894.

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