World famous journalist and history's best selling Black author Alex Haley was born Alexander Murray Palmer Haley in Ithaca, New York on August 11, 1921. Haley began his writing career as a senior editor for Reader's Digest shortly after retiring from the Coast Guard in 1959.
He conducted the very first interview for Playboy magazine, which was with jazz legend Miles Davis. Another one of Haley's historical interviews for Hugh Hefner's groundbreaking publication was with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which was the longest interview King had ever granted to any publication.
Haley's first, and perhaps most widely read writings, was The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Published in 1965, this timeless autobio of one of the most influential people in history, was comprised of over 50 in-depth interviews with the controversial civil rights champion between 1963 and his assassination in 1965.
His most widely recognized work is Roots: The Saga of an American Family, a novel turned television miniseries, which reached a record breaking 130 million viewers and sparked an increased public interest in family genealogy. Haley passed away on this date in 1992 in Seattle Washington.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Friday, February 10th 2012 at 12:19PM
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