Alex Haley Taught America About Race — and How to Write to a Young Man


“Roots” was finally released on August 17, 1976, 12 years after it started. In that American bicentennial, it was the right book at the right time. The author knew he was going to be big, but even he was unprepared for his immense popularity and burgeoning, staggering fame. properly, James Baldwin evaluated “Roots” for Book Review. “It’s an act of faith and courage for Alex Haley to take us back in time to the ancestral village,” he observed, “but this book is also an act of love, and that’s what’s mind-blowing.” It topped the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for 22 weeks, selling 15 million copies in less than a year.

In 1977, “Roots” won special citations from both the National Book Awards and the Pulitzer Prize board. It went beyond the story its author told in Hamilton, and it was much more gripping than I expected. Haley and Doubleday could have gotten themselves out of a lot of trouble if they had just admitted that their bestseller was from the start. based on true story. Haley used the word “service”, a combination of “fact” and “fiction” to describe what she was trying to do. The concept echoed the then-popular term “non-fiction novel”, the most famous examples being Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood.” (1966) and Norman Mailer’s “Armies of the Night” (1968). While these writers played with facts, both books retained the veneer of truth. In contrast, “Roots” was a great thread. When the miniseries aired, I watched as diligently as the other 130 million viewers, proud to know its creator once.

Then came the reaction. Scholars who have spent their careers studying African and American slavery have questioned the reliability of Haley’s Gambian sources (one historian has pronounced the author’s methods “a virtual scenario of how”). immortality fieldwork in an oral society”) and the accuracy of his research on enslaved American ancestors. Shortly before Haley was awarded the special Pulitzer citation in April 1977, her book was the subject of a 5,000-word disclosure received by The New York Times in The Sunday Times of London. The New York newspaper wrote that “Mr. Haley’s conclusion that his genealogy extended as far as Kunta Kinte in the village of Juffure” “seemed to have no factual basis”.

“Roots” captured the nation’s imagination and cemented its historical significance in Black American life at a time when the nuclear family was under attack (including a so-called “coronavirus” epidemic).non fathers”). Yet his success was marred by his mistakes. Two writers accused Haley of plagiarism; one case dismissed and the other settled out of court For $650,000 (or $2.7 million today). The lawsuits were debilitating and humiliating.

After Haley died of a heart attack at the age of 70 in 1992, the criticism continued. “Roots” disappeared from college curricula and dropped from recommended reading lists. Perhaps the strongest condemnation was its absence from the “Norton Anthology of African-American Literature.” There is Malcolm X but no Alex Haley.

Yes, Haley was not a scholar. He was not a genealogist. He wasn’t even a novelist. He was a professional journalist always looking for a good story. And he had never found anything better than his own family background. He was a great storyteller. “Roots” wasn’t Black “Gone with the Wind”. It was a unique piece of art that influenced millions of Americans. If their methods were flawed, it wasn’t their intentions. He showed me how to conduct an in-depth interview and “saturation research” in public archives and uncharted places.

Haley wasn’t a historian, but she made history. The tragedy is that the success of “Roots” scares him and eventually swallows him. He didn’t finish another big job. But did he have to? The book and TV series “Roots” changed the conversation about race in America, inspiring readers and viewers for generations to look at their own stories, no matter where they take them or how painful they may be.

Michael Patrick Hearn’s books include “The Annotated Wizard of Oz”, “The Annotated Huckleberry Finn” and “The Annotated Christmas Carol.” He is currently completing “Annotated Edgar Allan Poe”.



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