10 Facts about Alex Haley

Tuesday, December 16th 2014. | Authors

If you want to know the famous American writer who created 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family, look at Facts about Alex Haley. This book is very interesting. ABC adapted the book into a miniseries with the similar title. It could attract 130 million viewers in 1977. Here are some interesting facts about Alex Haley for you:

Facts about Alex Haley 1: life span

Alex Haley was born on 11 August 1921 in Ithaca, New York. He died on 10 February 1992. He had one sister and three brothers. He was the oldest one in the family.

Facts about Alex Haley 2: the early life

Even though he was born in Ithaca, he was raised by his family in Henning, Tennessee. When he was 5 years old, he and his family returned to Ithaca.

Alex Haley Author

Facts about Alex Haley 3: parents

Let’s talk about Haley’s parents. His mother came from Henning. Her name is Bertha George Haley. His father was Simon Haley. He worked as a professor of agriculture at Alabama A&M University. He was very proud of his father since he could overcome the racism and became a professor.

Facts about Alex Haley 4: education

When he was 15 years old, he went to Alcorn State University just like his father. Actually it was a black college in the past. The he moved to North Carolina and went to Elizabeth City State College. He returned home and told his father and stepmother that he got out of the college. Therefore, his father suggested him to be enlisted in the military when he was 18 to increase his discipline. Check out Aldo Leopold facts if you want to know another great writer.

Alex Haley Book

Facts about Alex Haley 5: United States Coast Guard

When Alex Haley was 20 years old, he had his first career in United States Coast Guard on 24 May 1939.

Facts about Alex Haley 6: writing stories

He developed the interesting to craft stories when he was in a service for Pacific theater of operations. There were several sailors who asked him to write love letters to their girlfriends. Haley was paid by them. He stated that boredom was the strongest enemy during their long voyage, not the Japanese forces. Get facts about Agatha Christie here.

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Facts about Alex Haley 7: journalist

He finally found out his passion by petitioning the United Coast Guard to transfer him into journalist after the World War II was over. Then he became a journalist of the officer first class.

Facts about Alex Haley 8: The Autobiography of Malcolm X

One of his famous books was the Autobiography of Malcolm X in 1965. He did it after collecting the length interviews about him.

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Facts about Alex Haley 9: Reader’s Digest magazine

Alex Haley was a senior editor of Reader’s Digest magazine after he decided to retire from US Coast Guard.

Facts about Alex Haley 10: awards and medals

There are many awards and medals that he received. In 1977, NAACP awarded him with the Spingarn Medal. The government of South Korea awarded him Korean War Service Medal in 2002.