Alex Haley Facts
Alex Haley Facts
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Interesting Alex Haley Facts: |
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Haley began his writing career while serving in the Coast Guard, first by writing letters for his fellow guards and then later as an official journalist for the service. |
He briefly attended the historically black universities of Alcorn State University and Elizabeth City State College before enlisting in the Coast Guard. |
After the Coast Guard, Haley worked as an editor for Reader's Digest before becoming a writer for Playboy in 1962. |
Haley never saw any action in the Coast Guard and later described his service as mainly boring, but also an opportunity to hone his writing skills. |
Haley wrote the first interview for Playboy |
Haley interviewed many intriguing and controversial Americans for Playboy, including: Johnny Carson, Muhammad Ali, and the leader of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell. |
The 1965 Autobiography of Malcom X was ghostwritten by Haley. It was his first book with latter additions adding his name. |
Roots was based on Haley's family records, following one of his ancestors from his capture in Africa to his life as a slave in America: it was credited with raising the consciousness of the African-American experience among both white and black Americans. |
Haley wrote the screenplay for the 1973 blaxploitation film Superfly T.N.T. |
At the time of his death, Haley was working on the novel Queen, which was later finished by David Stevens. |
Due to the success of Roots, it was turned into a miniseries that was watched by over 130 million people. |
Roots is often cited as one of the factors for the current interest in genealogy. |
The success of Roots also spawned a 1979 sequel miniseries titled, Roots: The Next Generations, which continued the story well into the twentieth century. |
The subject of Roots has often be criticized for its lack of historicity, but supporters are quick to point out that the book never claimed to be anything other than a novel based on historical facts. |
Haley died of a heart attack on February 10, 1992 in Seattle, Washington at the age of seventy. He was buried in his boyhood home of Henning, Tennessee. |
In 1999, the Coast Guard named a cutter the Alex Haley after the former guardsman. |
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