Alex Haley

Alexander Murray Palmer 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, which aired in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. Born in 1921 and dying in 1992, he wrote the book that brought family history to a wide audience in the United States. His book and the television series made from it raised public awareness of black American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history. His first book was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965 and produced through numerous long interviews with Malcolm X.