Alex Haley (1921-1992) is the author of Roots, one of the most celebrated novels of the 1970s. He spent twenty years in the Coast Guard until beginning his writing career working for a range of magazines before becoming a ghostwriter for his first major book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Haley spent years tracing his own family history and decided it went back to a single African man, Kunta Kinte, who was captured in Gambia and taken to the United States as a slave. That research led to Haley's epic book Roots, published in 1976 to wide acclaim. Haley is credited with inspiring interest in genealogy among African Americans.
