Knowra Alex Haley Alex Haley Alex Haley (1921–1992) was an American writer and journalist best known for coauthoring The Autobiography of Malcolm X and writing Roots: The Saga of an American Family.
Roots: The Saga of an American Family : Alex Haley’s 1976 novel traces an African American family from the capture of Kunta Kinte in Africa through generations in the United States. This novel became Haley’s best-known work and inspired a landmark television miniseries.
Collaborative writing : The production of a text by two or more writers working together. Haley worked with Malcolm X to shape the autobiography from recorded conversations and drafts.
Henning, Tennessee : A town in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, in the United States. Haley grew up in Henning, where family stories later informed his account of ancestry.
African-American literature : Literature written by African Americans that engages with Black life, history, culture, and identity. Haley’s major works became widely read contributions to African American letters.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X : A 1965 autobiography of Malcolm X, written with Alex Haley from extensive interviews and published shortly after Malcolm X’s death. Haley shaped Malcolm X’s spoken recollections into a widely read narrative.
Oral history : The collection and study of historical information through recorded interviews with participants or witnesses. Interview-based testimony informed Haley’s work on Malcolm X’s life and his family narrative.
Simon Haley : An American educator and World War I veteran who was Alex Haley’s father. His father’s family history helped inspire Haley’s search for his lineage.
African-American history : The history of African-descended people in the United States, from early settlement to the present. Roots brought slavery and Black family history to a mass audience.
Kunta Kinte : A fictional character in Roots, depicted as a Mandinka man captured in West Africa and enslaved in colonial America. Haley made Kunta Kinte the starting point of Roots’s multigenerational family story.
Literary journalism : Journalism that uses narrative techniques associated with fiction while reporting on real people and events. Haley combined reporting and crafted narrative in both biography and family history.
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