Alex Haley
Alex Haley
Alexander Murray Palmer "Alex" Haley was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of African American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAutobiographer
Date of Birth11 August 1921
CityIthaca, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I am really quite proud of most of the people I " know who have "made it," who do things to help people.
Raw, naked truth exchanged between the black man and the white man is what a whole lot more of is needed in this country - to clear the air of the racial mirages, cliches, and lies that this country's very atmosphere has been filled with for four hundred years.
Tying the little folks with the older folks is a great and powerful tool to preserve and to protect the family and the individual.
In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and praise it.
Most of us prefer to be as quiet as possible about giving, because every time it's publicized that we do something, if it's something of the nature of giving, we'll be doubly besieged, and you really get sick of being always criticized no matter what you do.
Roots is not just a saga of my family. It is the symbolic saga of a people.
I think one of the most fascinating things you can do after you learn about your own people is to study something about the history and culture of other people.
I tell younger writers that indeed it is devastating to be rejected. You feel like the bottom dropped out of your world.
You're always being judged. No matter what you do, it's not the right thing. If you didn't become successful, then you'd be pointed at as one of those creatures down their who didn't take advantage of this or that, who didn't climb and rise and so forth.
The main thing you got to remember is that everything in the world is a hustle.
My parents were teachers and they went out of their way to see to it that I had books. We grew up in a home that was full of books. And so I learned to read. I loved to read.
Never completely encircle your enemy. Leave him some escape, for he will fight even more desperately if trapped.
I certainly wasn't seeking any degree, the way a college confers a status symbol upon its students. My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America. Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me, asking questions. One was, "What's your alma mater?" I told him, "Books.
The way to succeed is never quit. Thats it. But really be humble about it.