{"id":6154,"date":"2014-02-10T16:56:25","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T16:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=6154"},"modified":"2021-02-08T07:38:24","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T12:38:24","slug":"remembering-alex-haley-roots-kunta-kinte-genealogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/remembering-alex-haley-roots-kunta-kinte-genealogy.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Alex Haley: \u2018Roots,\u2019 Kunta Kinte & Genealogy"},"content":{"rendered":"

History of Roots<\/em> by Alex Haley<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today is the 22nd<\/sup> anniversary of the death of Alex Haley (1921-1992), the author who wrote the popular African American novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family<\/em>. The publication of Haley\u2019s novel in 1976, and the subsequent ABC television miniseries based on his book that aired in January 1977, spurred tremendous interest in genealogy in the United States.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Photo: cover of the first edition of Alex Haley\u2019s novel \u201cRoots.\u201d Credit: Wikipedia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Haley\u2019s award-winning novel was a fictionalized account of his own African American family history, tracing his roots all the way back to an African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, who was kidnapped in the Gambia in the 1760s, shipped across the Atlantic and sold into slavery in Maryland. Haley spent ten years researching his black genealogy, relying on both oral history and documentation to support his claim that he was a seventh-generation descendant of Kunta Kinte.<\/p>\n

Both the book and the television miniseries were enormously popular and successful. The novel was translated into 37 languages and has sold millions of copies around the world. Haley was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for his book in 1977. The eight-part TV miniseries fascinated the American public and was watched by a then-record 130 million viewers.<\/p>\n

Genealogy Research Suddenly Skyrockets! <\/strong><\/p>\n

After reading Roots<\/em> and watching the television miniseries, Americans\u2014both black and white\u2014wanted to find out more about their own family roots. Requests to the National Archives for genealogical material quadrupled the week after the TV show ended. The number of genealogical societies in the U.S. skyrocketed. Libraries and government offices received a steady stream of requests to review books, official records, and microfilm collections.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 1977 this newspaper article reported on the growing popularity of genealogy.<\/p>\n

\"Many<\/a>
Morning Star (Rockford, Illinois), 19 April 1977, page 14<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the article:<\/p>\n

The increasing trend toward genealogical research apparently started three or four years ago, picked up stimulation in the Bicentennial year [1976] and was spurred again by Alex Haley\u2019s \u201cRoots\u201d and the tremendously successful ABC television series based on his book.<\/p>\n

That series, the most-watched ever on television, led thousands of blacks and whites alike to a search for their own roots. The National Archives reported that its mail requests quadrupled in the week after the series.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A decade later, newspaper articles such as this one were still crediting Haley for the public\u2019s interest in genealogy.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), 13 October 1986, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ten days before he died, Haley gave a talk at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A local newspaper, the Afro-American Gazette<\/em> from nearby Grand Rapids, published this remembrance after his death.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/a>
Afro-American Gazette (Grand Rapids, Michigan), 1 March 1992, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The news article begins this way:<\/p>\n

Alex Haley was a man of vision\u2014a man who knew [that], as individuals and a nation, [we] must know where we have been in order to know where we are going.<\/p>\n

And when he died…he left that vision behind as a legacy to a world starving for truth, starving for direction, starving for peace and understanding.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alex Haley\u2019s Obituary<\/strong><\/p>\n

This obituary, published the day after Haley died, said he \u201cinspired people of all races to search for their ancestors\u201d and stated:<\/p>\n

Mr. Haley\u2019s warmhearted and rich descriptions of his ancestors\u2019 lives set off a wave of interest in genealogy, lasting long after the book faded from best-seller lists.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Author<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 11 February 1992, page 53<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To find out more about Alex Haley\u2019s life and influence\u2014and to begin your own search for your family roots\u2014dig into GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, a collection of more than 6,500 newspapers featuring the largest obituary archive online. Also, search our African American newspaper collection<\/a> to trace your black family history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article about the death of Alex Haley (1921-1992), the author who wrote the popular African American novel \u201cRoots: The Saga of an American Family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12323],"tags":[20527,775,12,6361],"class_list":["post-6154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-african-american-history-genealogy","tag-african-american-history-and-genealogy","tag-alex-haley","tag-genealogy","tag-roots-the-saga-of-an-american-family"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/photo-0210-2014-featured-graphic-alex-haley-marker.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64887,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154\/revisions\/64887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}