I wasn't going to be one of those people who died wondering what if? I would keep putting my dreams to the test - even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. This is the shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there.

Biography – Criticism

Alex Palmer Haley, son of Simon Alexander Haley and Bertha George Palmer, was born in Ithaca, New York on August 11, 1921.  He soon moved from Ithaca to the small town of Henning, Tennessee where he was raised.  His father taught agriculture at several surrounding colleges while his mother taught grade school.  After graduating high school at 15 years old, Haley spent two years studying at Elizabeth City Teachers College in North Carolina, but soon found a calling far removed from the world of academia. 

During WWII he enlisted in the Coast Guard, where he served for 20 years from 1939 to 1959.  While at sea, Haley began writing short stories, but he would see no publication for 8 years, when small magazines began accepting his work. 

After serving in the Coast Guard he began his new career as a freelance writer, first writing assignments for Reader’s Digest, then later for Playboy.  It was with Playboy that he began conducting influential interviews in the “Playboy Interviews” portion of the magazine, a feature of his own creation.  Malcolm X was one of the personalities interviewed by Haley.  The interview inspired the publication of Haley’s first book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which has sold over 6 million copies and been translated into eight languages.

The work of Alex Haley has been widely received among readers and critics alike.  He is haled for exemplifying the black experience in a way that is both accessible and representative for not just African Americans but all people.  In The Autobiography of Malcolm X, he challenges people to recognize and accept the way the Black people were exploited and caused to suffer in the decades leading up to the civil rights movement.  While Haley may not have personally experienced the events retold by Malcolm X, he is responsible for capturing them so beautifully on the page. 

In Roots, he inspires African Americans to discover their long ignored genealogy, one that was ignored and often erased by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.  He brings to light the hardships faced by his forefathers, and as a result Haley is revered as a harbinger of truth.

Beginning with his early writing days at sea, Alex Haley made a significant name for himself within the writing community and the United States as a whole.  Never before had anyone so honestly and artistically documented what should be considered the most pertinent issues of our time.  For this, he is remembered as offering innumerable contributions in the history of African American literature.

Selected Bibliography

Works by the Author

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)

Roots: the Saga of an American Family (1976)

A Different Kind of, Christmas (1988)

Alex Haley’s Queen: the Story of an American Family  (1993)

With David Stevens.  Mama Flora’s Family: a Novel (1998)
 

Works about the Author

Ambrose, Margaret Styles.  “Roots: A Southern Symposium.”  Callaloo  2 (1978): 124-126.

Arnez, Nancy L. “From His Story to Our Story: A Review of Roots.” The Journal of Negro  Education 46.3 (1977) : 367-372.

Bloom, Harold, editor. Alex Haley & Malcolm X's the Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1996.

Courlander, Harold.  “Kunta Kinte’s Struggle to be African.” Phylon  47. 4 (1986) : 294-302.

Hijaya, James A. “Roots: Family and Ethnicity in the 1970s.” American Quarterly 30.4 (1978) : 548-556.

Ohmann, Carol. “The Autobiography of Malcolm X: a Revolutionary Use of the Franklin Tradition.” American Quarterly 22.2.1. (1970) : 131-149.

Shirley, David. Alex Haley. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1994.

Related Links
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ahaley.htm

-Biography, timeline, excerpts, and selected works

http://www.kintehaley.org/

-Alex Haley Foundation

http://authors.aalbc.com/alex.htm

-Biography, online book orders

http://www.gale.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/haley_a.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Haley