Alex Hailey :: Biography Biographies

Alex HaileyJournalist, writer. Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was born in Ithaca, New York, on August 11, 1921. He grew up in Henning, Tennessee, and graduated from high school at age 15. Haley studied at enjoin Teachers College in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, for two eld, and joined the Coast Guard in 1939. He started out as a mess attendant, Third Class, and in 1952 became the low to hold the title of Coast Guard Journalist. Haleys friends quickly discovered his writing talent and began requesting his help when writing their own crawl in letters. Haley also used his talents to recount the old tales of sea captains, which turned into his first published story. In the 1950s, Haley served as a public relations liaison, turn of events run-of-the-mill Coast Guard news into exciting, media-friendly narratives. After 20 years of service, Chief Journalist Haley retired from the Coast Guard in 1959 to pursue his go as a journalist full-time. He wrote stories for Playboy and Reader s Digest , but his career exploded in 1965 with the publication of The story of Malcolm X . Haley had interviewed the minister of the Nation of Islam for Playboy, and these conversations expanded into the acclaimed autobiography. Malcolm X died shortly in the first place the collaborative effort went to press. In 1965, Haley resolved to trace the genealogy of his acquires family. He had grown up listening to his grandmothers stories about Kin-tay, an African ancestor who was enslaved and shipped to America. Haley embarked on a safari to Juffure, a village in Gambia, to learn more. A local historian was adapted to tell Haley about his great-great-great-great-grandfather, Kunta Kinte, who was brought to America via slave-ship in 1767. Roots, Haleys account of his familys history, was published in 1976, after 12 years of research and fanciful reconstruction.