Comprehensive information and links about Alex Haley

Alex Haley (August 11, 1921 - February 10, 1992) was an African American writer (though he was also proud of his Irish and Cherokee ancestry). He is best known for his book

Life

Born in Ithaca, New York, Haley grew up in the Southern U.S. Haley's father Simon was a professor of agriculture who had also served in World War I. Haley always spoke proudly of his father and the incredible obstacles of racism he had overcome. On May 24, 1939 he began his 20 year service with the Coast Guard. He enlisted as a Seaman and then became a third class Petty Officer in the rate of Mess Attendant, one of the only enlisted designators open to African Americans at that time. It was during his service in the Pacific theater of operations that Haley taught himself to write. He talked of how the greatest enemy he and his crew faced during their long sea voyages wasn't the Japanese but boredom. He collected many rejection slips over an eight year period before his first story was bought.

After World War II, Haley was able to petition the Coast Guard to allow him to cross rate into the field of journalism, and by 1949 he had become a First Class Petty Officer in the rate of Journalist. He later advanced to the rank of Chief Petty Officer and held this grade until his retirement from the Coast Guard in 1959.

Alex Haley's awards and decorations from the Coast Guard include the American Defense Service Medal (w"Sea" clasp), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal (w1 silver and 1 bronze service star), Korean Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, and the Coast Guard Expert Marksmanship Medal.

Haley is also entitled to the Korean War Service Medal, but never received this decoration in his lifetime. However, it was posthumously awarded ten years after his death.

After the retirement he became a senior editor for . He is also noted for having done several interviews for Playboy Magazine in the US: most famously with American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell. Rockwell kept a handgun on the table throughout the interview, despite which Haley exhibited remarkable calm and professionalism.

In 1965 Haley wrote , based on interviews conducted shortly before Malcolm's death (and with an epilogue for after it). The book was published in 1972 and had a huge success, being later named by , a fictionalized account of his family's history, starting with the story of Kunta Kinte, kidnapped in Gambia in 1767 to be sold as a slave in North America. This work involved ten years of research and writing for Haley. He literally travelled all over the world. Haley went to the actual villiage of Juffure where Kunta Kinte grew up and listened to a tribal historian tell the story of his capture. Haley was able to trace the actual ship, The Lord Ligoner, which carried Kunta Kinte to America. Haley said the most emotional moment of his life was on September 29, 1967 when he stood at the actual site in Annapolis, Maryland where his ancestor had arrived 200 years before. won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to become a popular television miniseries. The book and film were both successful, reaching a record-breaking 130 million viewers when it was serialized on television. emphasized that African Americans also have a long history and that not all of that history is lost, as many believed. Its popularity sparked an increased public interest in genealogy, as well.

In the late 1980s, Haley began working on a second historical novel based on another branch of his family, traced through his grandmother Queen - the daughter of a black slave woman and her white master. Haley died in Seattle, Washington of a heart attack before he could complete the story; at his request, it was finished by David Stevens and was published as TV series adaptation aired in 1977. The same year, Haley won a Pulitzer Prize for the book and the Spingarn Medal as well. Haley's fame was marred by plagiarism charges in 1978; after a trial, Haley was permitted to settle out-of-court for $650,000, having admitted that he copied large passages of . Her case was dismissed by the court.

Haley's work is controversial for other reasons. He has been accused of fictionalizing true stories in both his book . X's family and members of The Nation of Islam accused Haley of changing selected parts of his story.

In 1999, the U.S. Coast Guard honored Haley by naming the cutter