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Alex Haley on Writing Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley

Alex Haley on Writing Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X

by Alex Haley

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1 Hr. 37 Min.
In this 1968 talk at UCLA, author Alex Haley discusses his research and writing processes for The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) and the book that would become Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976). He opens the talk with how he became the journalist that would cover the life of Malcolm X, and the various interviewing tactics that he used to get Malcolm X to open up about his life. Haley then goes on to chart the extensive research he was doing for what would become his 1976 novel Roots. Haley describes how he became a man possessed when researching the story of genealogy and family history of one of his ancestors named Kunta Kinte who was a Gambian man who was enslaved and taken to America. The research led Haley many places including a safari into The Gambia. It would be another eight years after this talk before Haley would publish his bestselling 1976 novel Roots which then led to the award-winning 1977 miniseries. It is great to hear Haley discuss his writing and research process while he was immersed in it.


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