64. Alex Haley to Paul Reynolds, March 10, 1974, box 3, folder 25, Anne Romaine Collection, UT.
65. Ibid.
66. Alex Haley to Murray Fisher, October 9, 1075, box 10, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid.
69. Haley wrote, “What I am wishing now is that you had submitted the bill around the time when I was there, when I had the money, for now I sure do not. Absolutely stopping other even lucrative forms of income in order to isolate with the book, to finish, has produced an uncommon squeeze.” Alex Haley to Diane Yensen, October 7, 1975, box 10, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
70. Alex Haley to John Roman, October 15, 1975, box 10, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
71. Alex Haley to Herman Blake, October 12, 1975, box 10, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
72. Alex Haley to Howard Meyer, October 12, 1975, box 10, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
73. Dick Kleiner, “Alex Haley Still Can’t Believe He’s Rich and Famous,” Cincinnati Post, January 29, 1977.
74. Alex Haley to Murray Fisher, October 18, 1975, box 10, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
75. Ibid.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. Ibid.
79. Ibid.
80. Quoted in Robert Norrell, Alex Haley and the Books That Changed a Nation (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015), 138.
81. Alex Haley to Murray Fisher, October 18, 1975, box 10, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
5. PRODUCING ROOTS
1. Stan Margulies to Lou Rudolph, December 5, 1975, box 104, folder 024, David Wolper Collection, USC.
2. Alex Haley to Stan Margulies, September 5, 1974, box 105, folder 001, David Wolper Collection, USC.
3. William Blinn, interview by Gary Rutkowski, October 7, 2005, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/william-blinn#.
4. Stan Margulies, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, pp. 34–35, David Wolper Collection, USC.
5. William Blinn, interview by Quincy Troupe, May 12, 1977, transcript, p. 11, David Wolper Collection, USC.
6. Stan Margulies, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 35, David Wolper Collection, USC.
7. Ibid., pp. 35–36; William Blinn, interview by Quincy Troupe, May 12, 1977, transcript, p. 11, David Wolper Collection, USC.
8. Stan Margulies, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 35, David Wolper Collection, USC.
9. Ibid., p. 37. By July 1975, Blinn and Margulies submitted the first Roots script to ABC, which had eliminated the use of flashbacks or a narrator. Stan Margulies to Lou Rudolph, July 8, 1975, box 104, folder 024, David Wolper Collection, USC.
10. Lynn Stalmaster, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph of an American Family, 30th Anniversary Edition (Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2011), DVD, disc 1.
11. Stan Margulies, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 47, David Wolper Collection, USC.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid., p. 49.
14. Brandon Stoddard, interview by Brian Lowry, December 12, 2007, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/brandon-stoddard#.
15. Stan Margulies, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 48, David Wolper Collection, USC.
16. David Greene, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 1.
17. Brandon Stoddard, interview by Brian Lowry, December 12, 2007, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/brandon-stoddard#.
18. Lynn Stalmaster, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 1.
19. William Blinn, interview by Gary Rutkowski, October 7, 2005, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/william-blinn#.
20. Jeannie Battersby to Alex Haley, January 30, 1977, box 11A, folder 7, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin.
21. David Wolper, interview by Quincy Troupe, June 20, 1977, transcript, p. 63, David Wolper Collection, USC.
22. Ibid., p. 65.
23. Ibid.
24. Regarding Roots casting, see box 104, folders 020–023, Wolper Collection, USC.
25. “Being Too Skinny for School Team Was Lucky Break for Lou Gossett,” Philadelphia Tribune, August 8, 1970.
26. “John Amos Leaving ‘Good Times,’” Hartford Courant, June 27, 1976.
27. “Roots as Untold History,” PBS, www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/video/roots-as-untold-history/.
28. “The Cast of Roots,” YouTube video, posted by Wendy Williams, February 5, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EqO1680evM.
29. Sharon Male, “A Return to Roots: A Conversation with John Amos,” Parade Magazine, May 22, 2007.
30. “Roots as Untold History,” PBS, www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/video/roots-as-untold-history/.
31. Council on Interracial Books for Children, Stereotypes, Distortions and Omissions in U.S. History Textbooks (New York: Racism and Sexism Resource Center for Education, 1977); Frances FitzGerald, America Revised: History Schoolbooks in the Twentieth Century (New York: Vintage, 1980).
32. LeVar Burton, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 1.
33. George Stanford Brown, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 3.
34. Ibid.
35. Alex Haley to Stan Margulies, August 30, 1976, box 105, folder 001, Wolper Collection, USC.
36. LeVar Burton, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 1.
37. David Greene, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 1.
38. On the Oyotunji African Village, see Kamari Maxine Clarke, Mapping Yorùbá Networks: Power and Agency in the Making of Transnational Communities (Raleigh, NC: Duke University Press, 2004); Carl Hunt, Oyotunji Village: The Yoruba Movement in America (Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1979).
39. Tom Kersey to Stan Margulies, March 16, 1976, box 104, folder 024, David Wolper Collection, USC.
40. Stan Margulies to David Wolper, March 4, 1976, box 104, folder 019, David Wolper Collection, USC.
41. Brandon Stoddard, interview by Brian Lowry, December 12, 2007, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/brandon-stoddard#.
42. Carl Sterens to David Wolper, June 15, 1976, box 282, folder 014, David Wolper Collection, USC.
43. “John Amos on Ancestor and Roots,” PBS, www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/video/john-amos-on-connecting-to-ancestors-in-roots/.
44. John Amos, interview by Quincy Troupe, May 9, 1977, transcript, p. 17, David Wolper Collection, USC.
45. “John Amos on Ancestor and Roots.”
46. John Amos, interview by Quincy Troupe, May 9, 1977, transcript, p. 22, David Wolper Collection, USC.
47. Ibid.
48. Denise Ames, “One-on-One with Richard Roundtree,” Tolucan Times (Glendale, CA), March 6, 2014.
49. Marvin Chomsky, interview by Quincy Troupe, May 23, 1977, transcript, p. 22, David Wolper Collection, USC.
50. William Blinn, interview by Gary Rutkowski, October 7, 2005, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/william-blinn#.
51. Woodie King to David Wolper and Stan Margulies, May 31, 1976, box 105, folder 019, David Wolper Collection, USC.
52. Gilbert Moses, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, pp. 3, 10, David Wolper Collection, USC.
53. Charlayne Hunter, “‘We Are Starved for Images of Ourselves,’” New York Times, March 5, 1972.
54. Gilbert Moses, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 29, David Wolper Collection, USC.
55. Stan Margulies, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 67, David Wolper Collection, USC.
56. Gilbert Moses, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, pp. 30–31, David Wolper Collection, USC.
57. Ibid., p. 35.
58. Ibid., p. 49.
59. Stan Margulies, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 69, David Wolper Collection, USC.
; 60. Joe Wilcots, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 21, 1977, transcript, pp. 1–9, David Wolper Collection, USC.
61. Dennis McLellan, “Joseph M. Wilcots Dies at 70,” Los Angeles Times, January 5, 1970.
62. Joe Wilcots, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 21, 1977, transcript, p. 11, David Wolper Collection, USC.
63. Ibid., p. 27.
64. Gilbert Moses, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 35, David Wolper Collection, USC.
65. Joseph Wilcots, interview by Gary Rutkowski, December 5, 2007, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/joseph-m-wilcots#.
66. Stan Margulies, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, p. 29, David Wolper Collection, USC.
67. William Blinn, interview by Quincy Troupe, May 12, 1977, transcript, pp. 6–7, David Wolper Collection, USC.
68. Alex Haley to Murray Fisher, October 18, 1975, box 10, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
69. David Wolper, Producer: A Memoir (New York: Scribner, 2003), 226.
70. Carole Stevens, “Roots,” April 7, 1976, box 30, folder 7, Alex Haley Collection, UT.
71. David Wolper and Quincy Troupe, The Inside Story of T.V.’s “Roots” (New York: Warner Books, 1978), 134.
72. Lisa Drew to Stan Margulies, February 1, 1976, box 104, folder 025, David Wolper Collection, USC.
73. Quoted in Norrell, Alex Haley, 147.
74. David Wolper to Lisa Drew, May 13, 1976, box 283, folder 013, David Wolper Collection, USC.
75. David Wolper to Carole Stevens, June 17, 1976, box 283, folder 013, David Wolper Collection, USC.
76. “Promotion Managers: ‘Roots’ Exploitation Opportunities,” n.d. [ca. 1976], box 30, folder 6, Alex Haley Collection, UT.
77. “This Is ‘Roots’ Week,” Afro-American, January 29, 1977.
78. Brandon Stoddard, interview by Brian Lowry, December 12, 2007, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/brandon-stoddard#.
79. Lawrence Laurent, “An Unprecedented Eight Straight Nights,” Washington Post, January 23, 1977.
80. “ABC Sets Precedent by Airing ‘Roots,’” November 1976, box 30, folder 6, Alex Haley Collection, UT.
81. Brandon Stoddard, interview by Brian Lowry, December 12, 2007, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/brandon-stoddard.
82. Fred Silverman, interview by Dan Pasternack, March 16, 2001, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/fred-silverman.
6. READING ROOTS
1. Murray Fisher, “A Candid Conversation with the Author of the American Saga Roots,” Playboy, January 1977, 78.
2. Mel Watkins, “A Talk with Alex Haley,” New York Times, September 26, 1976.
3. Willie Lee Rose, “An American Family,” New York Review of Books, November 11, 1976.
4. A.S. Doc Young, “Roots: Tangled and Untangled,” Los Angeles Sentinel, April 21, 1977.
5. William Henry, “Did Haley Bring Us Together?” Boston Globe, February 1, 1977.
6. “Penthouse Interview: Alex Haley,” Penthouse, December 1976, 145.
7. Mike Kelley, “‘Roots’ Author: Don’t Forget to Look Back,” American Statesman (Austin, TX), January 26, 1977.
8. Mary McCauley, “Alex Haley, a Southern Griot: A Literary Biography” (PhD diss., Vanderbilt University, 1983), 207.
9. Roger Wilkins, “The Black Ghosts of History,” New York Times, February 2, 1977.
10. Maya Angelou, “Haley Shows Us the Truth of Our Conjoined Histories,” New York Times, January 23, 1977.
11. Fisher, “Candid Conversation,” 78.
12. Jeffrey Elliot, “Alex Haley Interview,” Negro History Bulletin, January 1, 1978, 782.
13. Ibid., 783.
14. Ibid.
15. “Searching for His Roots, Alex Haley Helps Us Discover Our Own,” Los Angeles Times, October 17, 1976.
16. Louis Rubin, “On the Need for Roots,” Sewanee Review 85, no. 4 (Fall 1977): 702.
17. Jim Cleaver, “The Wisdom and Truth of Alex Haley’s ‘Roots,’” Los Angeles Sentinel, December 23, 1976.
18. Ibid.
19. Charles Price, “Haley Makes a Significant Contribution,” Atlanta Daily World, October 17, 1976.
20. Chuck Stone, “Roots: An Electronic Orgy in White Guilt,” Black Scholar 8, no. 7 (May 1977): 40.
21. US Department of Labor Office of Policy Planning and Research, “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action,” March 1965, 30.
22. Herbert Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750–1925 (New York: Vintage, 1977), xvii, 461–67.
23. Kelley, “‘Roots’ Author
24. Joan McKinney, “An Author’s Search for Roots,” Oakland Tribune, October 26, 1976; Bruce Lewis, “Haley Tells Local Listeners to Find Their Roots,” Contra Costa Times, May 24, 1977.
25. Fisher, “Candid Conversation,” 92.
26. Lou Ann (Owens) Strozyk to Alex Haley, January 19, 1978, box 2, folder 28, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
27. Mrs. Carl Smith to Alex Haley, February 3, 1977, Alex Haley Collection, box 11A, folder 8, Goodwin College.
28. DeWayne Wickham, “Haley to Head African-American Round Table,” Baltimore Sun, March 1, 1976.
29. Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family (New York: Doubleday, 1976), 584.
30. Fisher, “Candid Conversation,” 79.
31. Arnold Rampersad, “Review of Roots,” New Republic, December 4, 1976, pp. 23–24.
32. Rose, “American Family.”
33. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, “Corroborating Evidence,” New York Times, October 14, 1976.
34. Ibid.
35. Mark Ottaway, “Tangled Roots,” Times (London), April 10, 1977, 17.
36. Israel Shenker, “Some Historians Dismiss Report of Factual Mistakes in ‘Roots,’” New York Times, April 10, 1977.
37. Ibid.
38. Warren Roberts, “Statement on Alex Haley’s Roots,” April 12, 1977, box 4, folder 41, Anne Romaine Collection, UT.
39. C. Eric Lincoln, interview by Anne Romaine, June 11, 1992, transcript, p. 11, box 3, folder 14, Anne Romaine Collection, UT.
40. Robert Maynard, “The Making of an American,” Washington Post, September 26, 1976.
41. Thomas Lask, “Success of Search for ‘Roots’ Leaves Alex Haley Surprised,” New York Times, November 23, 1976.
42. C. Eric Lincoln, interview by Anne Romaine, June 11, 1992, transcript, p. 11, box 3, folder 14, Anne Romaine Collection, UT.
43. “Pulitzer for ‘Roots,’” Guardian (London), April 19, 1977.
44. Ken McCormick to Alex Haley, March 29, 1977, box 10, folder 10, Alex Haley Collection, Schomburg.
45. Holly Hill, “Alex Haley and His Exceptional Book Is Given Astounding Acclaim,” Public Opinion (Chambersburg, PA), November 3, 1976.
46. Erik Lacitis, “‘Don’t Do It’ Haley’s ‘Roots’ Spoke,” Seattle Times, October 19, 1976.
47. Steve Kemme, “Haley Relates His Odyssey into the Past,” Clermont Courier (Batavia, OH), November 18, 1976.
48. Alex Haley, “Notes,” n.d. [ca. 1977], box 30, folder 24, Alex Haley Collection, UT.
49. Alex Haley, “NYT Article Notes,” n.d. [ca. 1977], box 30, folder 24, Alex Haley Collection, UT.
50. McCauley, “Alex Haley,” 181.
51. Joanne Williams to Alex Haley, January 23, 1977, box 11A, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin.
52. Alex Haley, “Search Chapter 7,” n.d. [ca. 1974], box 1, folder 8, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin College.
53. Alex Haley, “Search” note, n.d. [ca. 1974], box 6, folder 10, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin, and “Search” note, n.d. [ca. 1975], box 3, folder 2, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin.
54. James Baldwin to Alex Haley, May 29, [1968], box 3, folder 27, Anne Romaine Collection, UT.
55. Alex Haley, “Suicidal Slaves,” n.d. [ca. 1973], box 7, folder 1, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin.
56. Angelou, “Haley Shows Us.”
57. Ja
mes Baldwin, “How One Black Man Came to Be an American: A Review of ‘Roots,’” New York Times, September 26, 1976.
7. WATCHING ROOTS
1. Alex Haley, foreword to From Freedom to Freedom: African Roots in American Soil, ed. Mildred Bain and Ervin Lewis (Milwaukee, WI: Purnell Reference Books, 1977), xvi.
2. Stan Margulies to David Wolper, March 4, 1976, box 105, folder 019, David Wolper Collection, USC.
3. Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family (New York: Doubleday, 1976), 1.
4. David Greene, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph of an American Family, 30th Anniversary Edition, DVD (Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2011), disc 1.
5. Richard Schickel, “Middlebrow Mandingo,” Time, January 24, 1977.
6. Mary Beth Crain, “‘Birth of a Nation’—The Other Side of ‘Roots,’” Los Angeles Times, February 13, 1977.
7. Alex Haley, “Captain Davies’ View,” 1971, box 9, folder 13, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin, and “Book Section Two,” August 12, 1971, box 9, folder 13, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin.
8. Ed Asner, interview with Morrie Gelman, April 7, 1999, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/edward-asner.
9. William Blinn, interview by Gary Rutkowski, October 7, 2005, Web video, www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/william-blinn.
10. Jane Scott, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 1.
11. Nella Larsen, Quicksand (1929; repr., New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1986), 59.
12. On casting of extras, see box 104, folder 018, Wolper Collection, USC.
13. David Greene, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 1.
14. Bill Blinn, commentary, in Roots: The Triumph, disc 1, side B.
15. Sander Vanocur, “‘Roots’: A New Reality,” Washington Post, January 19, 1977.
16. Harry Waters, “The Black Experience,” Newsweek, January 24, 1977, 59.
17. Lloyd Pilchen to Alex Haley, January 31, 1977, box 11A, folder 7, Alex Haley Collection, Goodwin.
18. David Greene, interview by Quincy Troupe, April 18, 1977, transcript, pp. 13–14, David Wolper Collection, USC.
19. Rebecca Bess Shearry, affidavit, attached to Milton Segal to David Wolper, May 11, 1984, box 282, folder 022, David Wolper Collection, USC.
Making Roots Page 22