VIA: Biography.com
(born August 11, 1921, Ithaca, New York, U.S.—died February 10, 1992, Seattle, Washington) American writer whose works of historical fiction and reportage depicted the struggles of African Americans.
Although his parents were teachers, Haley was an indifferent student. He began writing to avoid boredom during voyages while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard (1939–59). His first major work, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), was an authoritative and widely read narrative based on Haley’s interviews with the Black Muslim spokesman. The work is recognized as a classic of African American literature.
Haley’s greatest success was Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976). This saga covers seven American generations, from the enslavement of Haley’s African ancestors to his own genealogical quest. The work forcefully shows relationships between generations and between races. Roots was adapted as a multi-episode television program, which, when first broadcast in January 1977, became one of the most popular shows in the history of American television and galvanized attention on African American issues and history. That same year Haley won a special Pulitzer Prize. A successful sequel was first broadcast in February 1979 as Roots: The Next Generations.
Roots spurred much interest in family history, and Haley created the Kinte Foundation (1972) to store records that aid in tracing black genealogy. Haley later admitted that his saga was partly fictional; the book was also the subject of a plagiarism suit, which Haley settled out of court.
View this 1983 interview with Alex Haley:
View this clip from the Roots Mini Series:
at 10:38 am
Black History Month, Not African American History Month. AA is a
misnomer.Al so called black American are not of African ethnicity. Black History Month is about the achievements of a people who started
out, not even owning the clothes on their backs. Perhaps it is baffling
to some to have a Black History month, but the emphasis is on how
individuals in this still evolving democratic republic have struggled
and survived under the rule of Constitutional Law and helped this
country live up to its creed. The story of blacks in America points out
an anomaly, an aberration and an enigma of this country during its
inception and development , and black history contains significant and
important facts that elevated this country to a new level of what a
democratic republic is all about. Black history pin points a defining
era in US history, reveals a lot about what America is, and what it is
meant to be.
Hopefully at some point, the facts about blacks who owned slaves, not indentured servants, both white and black, and the many other facts that are swept under the rug, hidden, and ignored can be incorporated in the study of black history in the Americas. The idea held by many, perhaps most black Americans, that their enslaved ancestors came to North America directly from Africa needs to be corrected. Slavery happened, it is an important aspect of American history. Hollywood has done a job on America with the reel story and no the real story. Black Ameicans have endured much, lives, limbs, property, blood swet at yes many tears to be Americans. Not African, the enslaved Africans’ transported to the New World home land was Africa. After 400 years black Americans roots are here, not Africa. Those enslaved, freed, and those who fought so long would be proud to know that blacks are now Americans. If white is still white, black is still black. And it is without a doubt that most black Americans have black African ethnicity, but they are not Africans. It is disingenuous for those who continue to refer to black Americans as Africans. Incidentally a label that has not been defined. All people of color in the USA who are classified as black, and America has a thing with race, are not of African origin. So the term is a misnomer. My black Australian friend agrees.
But all of the second paragraph is another story altogether. However, I had started to close with this point.. Only about 500,000 enslaved Africans were brought directly from African to North America. These were mainly from Senegal and
Sierra Leone. The bulk of the slaves imported to North America after the widespread use of the cotton gin, were brought here from South America and the West Indies.
More than three million, to Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas. and that was after they had been slaves in South America and the West Indies areas for more than two hundred years. This again, was after hundred of years of intra, inter, mixing of those were were from various tribal and village areas, and subjected to forced and selected breeding to produce workers for the fields and mines. No, all were not in the cotton fields. So black Americans have become a new genotype/phenotype, and their roots are here. Not someplace in Africa while trying to place an allegiance to some distant relative/ancestor who were the main participants in ’rounding’ them up and selling them. The powers that be need to teach young people to be proud Americans, mindful of their African ethnicity, but proud of their American past, the good, bad and ugly and all. Perhaps it can help with being black an proud again.
Thanks for your indulgence