publishers and, 83–84, 88, 90
sales, 70, 102, 127, 129, 157, 172, 220
Saturday Evening Post and, 79, 83
shaping of, 65–66, 68, 17
see also Malcolm X
Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, 159, 162
Baldwin, James, 26, 30, 38, 41, 47, 50, 102, 109, 120, 152, 155
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), 223
Beat poets, 34, 90
“Before This Anger” (Haley)
difficulties in finishing manuscript, 119–22
early stages of writing, 81–82
Haley’s trip to Africa and, 110–15
lecture on, 189
magazine writing and, 102
Palmerstown and, 208
publishers’ concerns about, 107–10, 128–29, 176
Readers Digest and, 106
research for, 84, 97–99, 106–7, 119–22
Bennett, Lerone, 31
Berger, George, 187–88, 191–94, 196–97, 222
Birmingham demonstrations, 57, 62–64, 67
see also Connor, Bull; King, Martin Luther Jr.
Birth of a Nation, The, 158
Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, The (Gutman), 145
Black History Month, 226
“Black Is Beautiful” movement, 124
“Black Merchants of Hate” (Haley), 51–53
Black Muslims, 52–53, 56, 64, 70, 83–86, 88, 94
see also Muhammad, Elijah; Nation of Islam
Black Muslims in America (Lincoln), 48
Black Power movement, 65, 73, 102, 123–24
Black Scholar journal, 123
Blassingame, John, 145–46
Blinn, William, 161
Blau, Louis, 121, 132–33, 177, 180, 187, 196–97, 213, 220
“Booker” (Haley), 129
Booker, Jimmy, 62, 69
Brando, Marlon, 171, 206–7
“Bridging the Black Generation Gap” workshop, 124
Brooks, Millie, 6
Brown, H. Rap, 65, 123
Brown v. Board of Education (1954), 31
Bruchac, Joseph, 189, 194–96
Burton, LeVar, 162, 218
Butler, Norman 3X, 87
Callagy, Robert, 195–96
Capote, Truman, 34, 117, 147–48
Carmichael, Stokely, 123
Carnegie, Andrew, 95
Carnegie Corporation, 133
Carter, Jimmy, 150
Carver, George Washington, 12
Casey, Bernie, 206
Children’s Defense Fund, 220
Christian Science Monitor, 32, 131
City University of New York, 133, 145
Clansman, The, 154, 156, 158
Clay, Cassius, 69
Clayton, Jim, 213
Cleveland Plain Dealer, The, 124
Clinton, Bill, 44
Collins, Juliette, 63
Columbia Pictures, 120–21, 133
Columbia University, 123, 194
Connor, Bull, 62, 64
Connors, Chuck, 161
Conrad, Barnaby, 34–35, 38, 121
Cornell University, 1
Coronet magazine, 29, 41
Cosmopolitan magazine, 41
Courlander, Harold, 183, 188–95, 197–98, 203–4, 222–23
Cow-Tail Switch and Other West African Stories, The (Courlander), 189
Crouch, Stanley, 224
Curtin, Philip, 119, 153
Davis, David Brion, 182
Davis, Miles, 49–51, 103
Davis, Ossie, 62, 89, 133, 206
Davis, Sammy Jr., 103–4
Dee, Ruby, 133
Dell Publishing, 90, 110, 129, 176–77
desegregation, 26, 43, 50, 72
Diller, Phyllis, 41
Dixon, Thomas, 154–58
Doubleday and Company, 58–59, 64, 66, 73, 79, 82, 87–88, 90, 97, 105, 108–9, 121–22, 128–30, 132
Drew, Lisa, 82, 88, 120–21, 128, 134–37, 141, 147, 184, 213
Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 48, 65, 95, 205
early writing career, Alex Haley
connections with entertainment celebrities, 41–42
magazine assignments, 41–43
Malcolm X and, 53–54
NOI and, 45–52
Readers Digest and, 42–45
Saturday Evening Post and, 51–52
Show Business Illustrated and, 49–51
Sims, George and, 39
struggles, 37–39
unpublished autobiographical novel, 39–41
Williams, Miller and, 43–44
see also Readers Digest
Ebony magazine, 31, 172
Ellis, Edye, 213
Ellison, Ralph, 26, 30, 40–41, 185
Faces of America (miniseries), 226
Fast, Howard, 55
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), 46, 51–52, 60, 77, 88, 227
Federal Writers Project, 184
fellowships
Ford Fellowship, 185
Guggenheim, 188
Rosenwald Fellowship, 185
Ferguson, Charles, 44, 55, 58, 80
Fiedler, Leslie, 154–55
Finding Your Roots (miniseries), 226
Fisher, Mattie, 6
Fisher, Murray, 50, 128, 132, 134–39, 197, 222
Fofana, Kebba Kanga, 112–14, 126, 148, 178–79, 198–99
“For My People” (Walker), 184
Ford Fellowship, 185
Ford, Gerald, 149
Frankel, Marvin E., 187–88, 191, 222
Frazier, E. Franklin, 101
Fremont-Smith, Eliot, 92, 183, 221
Frost, David, 131
Galbraith, Charles Thomas, 222–23
Gambia, 44, 106–7, 110–12, 118–20, 126, 146, 148–49, 153, 161–62, 171, 178–82, 198–99, 217–18, 221, 223
Gandhi, Mahatma, 151
Garvey, Marcus, 48, 65
Gates, Henry Louis Jr., 225–26
Genovese, Eugene, 145–46
Goldwater, Barry, 84
Gone with the Wind (film), 156, 158, 166–68
Gone with the Wind (Mitchell), 99, 154, 156
Goodwin, Doris Kearns, 223
Grammy Awards, 44
Gregory, Dick, 41, 50, 123, 218
Grove Press, 90–91, 108
Guggenheim fellowship, 188
Gunther, John, 110, 212
Gutman, Herbert G., 145
Hailey, Arthur, 151
Haiti Singing (Courlander), 189
Haley Committee, 111–12
Handler, M. S. “Mike,” 56–57, 72, 75–76
Hansen, Marcus, 151
“Harlem Nobody Knows, The” (Haley), 32
Harrell, Rich, 32
Hatcher, Zeona, 14–16, 20, 216
Hate That Hate Produced, The, 45, 49
Hawkins, John, 222
“Henning, U.S.A.” (Haley), 211, 219
Hentoff, Nat, 50
Herskovits, Melville, 100–1
Hicks, James, 31, 62
History News Network, 223
Hoodwinked (Cashill), 224
Hoover, J. Edgar, 52, 227
Horne, Lena, 41–42, 80
“How to Co-Exist with Negroes,” 79
Howe, Irving, 150
“I’m Talking to You, White Man” (article), 83
In Cold Blood (Capote), 117
Inside Africa (Gunther)
, 110
Inside U.S.A. (Gunther), 212
Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 79, 99, 105, 108, 130, 133
Invisible Man (Ellison), 30, 40
Jackson, James, 100, 107, 211, 217
Jackson, Jesse, 218
Jackson, Mahalia, 43
Jackson State University, Mississippi, 185–86
Jeffries, Leonard, 133, 203, 210, 216
Jet magazine, 31, 218
Johns Hopkins University, 153
Johnson, John H., 31
Johnson, Lyndon, 73, 84, 144, 187
Johnson, Thomas 15X, 87
Jones, James, 25
Jones, James Earl, 102, 120, 206
Jones, Quincy, 225
Jubilee (Walker), 183–87, 193
Juffure (village), 112–15, 118, 126, 131, 142, 146, 148–49, 153, 155, 168, 172, 178–81, 198–99, 221
Kaplan, Robert N., 192, 194
Kazan, Elia, 102, 109–10, 120
Kennedy Airport, 75, 85–86
Kennedy, John F., 52, 63, 69, 227
King, Martin Luther Jr., ix, 57, 62–63, 73, 82–83, 208, 227
Kingdom of Barra, 178
Kinte Corporation, 133
Kittler, Glenn D., 29
Krishna, V. R., 151
Ku Klux Klan, 67, 77, 84, 154, 156, 168, 205
Lee, Spike, 94, 209, 217
Lehman-Haupt, Christopher, 152–53
Leopard’s Spots, The (Dixon), 154, 156
Lewis, Anthony, 63
Lewis, Myran (My), 138, 173, 215, 218
Life magazine, 28–29, 31, 33, 80
Lincoln, C. Eric, 35, 47–48, 51, 62, 69
Lomax, Louis, 31, 47, 62, 120
“Lord and Little David, The” (Haley), 30, 59, 207
Lord Ligonier (slave ship), 118, 146
Louisiana State University, 43–44
Malcolm X, ix, 45
anti-Semitism and, 53, 64–65
assassination and aftermath, 87–89
controversy surrounding, 66–67
creation of autobiography and, 53–54, 65–66, 70–71, 77–79
departure from NOI, 71–74
development of friendship with Haley, 59–62
Doubleday and, 89–90
early life, 67–68
fear of being killed, 70, 86
fee for autobiography, 58–59
Handler, M. S. and, 56–57
increased attention on, 68–69
introduction to Haley, 57–58
life after NOI, 85–87
King, Martin Luther Jr. and, 63–64, 83
March on Washington and, 63–64
Muhammad, Elijah and, 68–69
NOI and, 58, 69–74, 84
publication of autobiography, 91–95
Saturday Evening Post and, 83–84
sensitive nature, 62
travels, 75–76, 79, 84–85
views on race relations, 62–63, 87
“Man Who Wouldn’t Quit” (Haley), 43
Manga, Ebou, 106–7, 110, 112, 119, 126, 128, 162, 221
Marable, Manning, 58, 61, 68, 93
March on Washington, 63–64, 67, 77
Marius, Richard, 121, 213, 224
Marshall, Thurgood, 62
Martinez, Al, 226
Massaquo, Hans J., 172
Matador (Conrad), 34
McCormick, Kenneth
Autobiography of Malcolm X and, 64, 66, 68, 70, 78, 84, 88
“Before This Anger” and, 82, 107–8, 120, 129
“Booker” and, 129
correspondence with Haley, 66, 68, 78, 120
Roots and, 134, 147
“Saga of a People” lecture and, 125
success in publishing, 58
writers worked with, 58
McGraw-Hill, 90
McLure, Doug, 161
McQueen, Butterfly, 156
military service, Alex Haley
assignment on Mendota, 17–19
duties as press officer for Coast Guard, 33–35
foray into magazine writing during, 28–33
outbreak of WWII, 19–20
pen pal, 19
publication of Seafarer newspaper, 23–24
race relations in U.S. during, 31–33
reassignment to Murzim, 20–21
reassignment to USCG Pamlico, 19
reenlistment in Coast Guard, 25–28
Scott, Percival L. and, 21–23
writing during, 21–25
Miller, Henry, 90
Mills, Gary B., 199–201
Mitchell, Margaret, 154–57
Monroe, Robert, 29
Montgomery bus boycott, 31
Morgan, Edmund S., 182
Moynihan, Daniel Patrick, 144–45
“Mr. Muhammad Speaks” (Haley), 49
Muhammad, Elijah, 45, 47, 49, 51–53, 56–61, 65–66, 68–73, 77–78, 83–84, 210
see also Black Muslims; Nation of Islam
“My Furthest-Back Person—The African” (Haley), 131, 189
“My Search for Roots” (Haley) 99, 177
Myth of the Negro Past (Herskovits), 100
NAACP, 46
Nation of Islam (NOI), 45–48, 51–53, 57–61, 68–69, 71–73, 78, 86, 88, 91
see also Black Muslims; Muhammad, Elijah
National Book Award Committee, 181
Native Son (Wright), 61, 184
Negro Digest magazine, 31
Negro Family, The (Moynihan), 144–45
Negro Folk Music U.S.A. (Courlander), 189
New American Library, 90
New York Times, 56–57, 63–64, 81–82, 88–89, 92–93, 120, 123, 131, 147, 152, 167, 177, 180, 183, 189, 196 203, 213, 219, 221, 223
New York University, 41–42, 125
Nixon, Richard, 58, 191
Nobile, Phillip, 196, 221–23, 224–25
Noble, Jeanne, 41–42, 63
NOI
see Nation of Islam
Northwestern University, 100, 185
Obama, Barack, 94, 226
“Of History and Hope” (Williams), 44
Ohio State University, 14, 138
Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University, 10
Oral Tradition, The (Vansina), 101
Organization of Afro-American Unity, 78
Ottaway, Mark, 178–83, 198, 203, 221
Palmer, Will and Cynthia, 1–3
Palmer-Turner Grammar School, 4–5
Palmerstown (TV series), 207–9
Parks, Gordon, 62
Pearl Harbor, 19
Pearl, Minnie, 212
Philadelphia Sunday Bulletin, 99, 107
plagiarism
see Roots, plagiarism charges
Playboy magazine, 49–50, 53–54, 57, 69, 82, 90–91, 97, 102–3, 121, 170, 173, 220
Publishers Weekly, 119, 151, 190
Pulitzer Prize, 112, 220
Pullman porters union, 205–6
Queen (Haley), 211, 217–20
Reader’s Digest
“Before This Anger” and, 106, 129
Berger, George and, 192
Book Club, 129
Conrad, Barnaby and, 34
Ferguson, Charles and, 44, 55
Gambia and, 110
Haley’s articles in, 28–29, 32, 41–42, 44
Haley’s relationship with, 80–81, 137
“Harlem Nobody Knows, The” (Haley), 32
“Henning, U.
S.A.” and, 211
Malcolm X and, 46, 52
“Mr. Muhammad Speaks” (Haley), 49, 52
NOI and, 46, 49, 52
Reynolds, Paul and, 80–81
Roots and, 135, 158, 226
Saturday Evening Post and, 52
threats of lawsuits against, 44
Williams, Miller and, 44
Reed, Gregory, 220
Reynolds, Paul Revere Jr., 55–59, 61, 63–68, 70, 74, 79–82, 84, 87–91, 98–99, 102, 104–5, 108–10, 112, 117–18, 125, 127–30
Richard III (Shakespeare), 57
Richards, Beah, 206
Richards, Gwen, 42
Robbins, Harold, 151
Robinson, Isaiah “Pop,” 19
Robinson, Jackie, 62
Rockwell, George Lincoln, 77, 102–3, 206
Roll, Jordan, Roll (Genovese), 145
Romaine, Anne, 214–16
Romaine, Howard, 214
Roots (Haley)
academic community and, 198–201
“African Heritage, The,” 132
breakdown of, 142–43
contemporary books with similar themes, 145–46
criticism of, 178–81, 203–5
cultural impact, 146, 149–51
excerpts in Readers Digest, 135, 158, 226
fiction vs. nonfiction in, 146–49
film rights for, 133
Fisher, Murray and, 135–38
handling of black families in, 143-
inspiration for, 117–19
lectures and, 122–23, 125
media attention for, 131
McCormick, Keith and, 134, 147
plagiarism charges, 183–98
as “popular epic,” 154–58
promotion for, 151–52
publication, 139, 141–42
Readers Digest and, 135, 158, 226
reviews, 152–54
“Saga of a People” lecture and, 125
success of, 181–83
writing of, 119–32, 135–37
see also “Roots Uncovered”
Roots (TV miniseries)
book sales and, 169–70
casting, 162–63
criticism of, 168–69
cultural impact, 165, 167–68, 170–73
production, 161
script vs. book, 164–65
shooting, 162
success, 159–61, 166–68
themes of episodes, 163
Roots II (TV miniseries), 205–7, 209
“Roots Uncovered” (Ottaway), 178–81
Rose, Willie Lee, 150, 153–54
Rosenwald Fellowship, 185
Rosetta Stone, 97
“Rosetta Stone” moment, 125–26
Rosset, Barney, 90
Roundtree, Richard, 162
Rowan, Carl, 31, 62, 89
Rudolph, Wilma, 42–43
Rustin, Bayard, 92
Rutledge, Maryse, 30
Alex Haley Page 27