ALEX HALEY + DAVID STEVENS - ALEX HALEY's Queen 1/1 Hb

Alex Haley , an African American writer , is best known for as the author of the novel Roots : The Saga of an American Family , from which two television miniseries , Roots and Roots II , were adapted . The novels , loosely based on Haley's own family , presented an interpretation of the journey of African Americans from their homeland to the United States and their subsequent search for freedom and dignity . The novel was published in 1976 , when the United States was celebrating it's bicentennial .

Haley began his writing career through assignments from Reader's Digest and Playboy magazine , where he conducted interviews . During this time he met Malcolm X , then one of the followers of Elija Mohamad , leader of the Nation of Islam . Later Haley was asked by Malcom X to write his life's story . The result of that collaboration , The Autobiography of Malcolm X , was published in 1965 and sold six million copies .

Roots , Haley's next bestseller , was a fictionalized version of his own search for his ancestral past , which led him to the African village of Juffure , in Gambia . Haley described Roots as ' faction ' , a combination of fact and fiction . Although criticized by some for taking too many liberties in the telling of his journey into his ancestral past , Haley maintained that ' Roots is intended to convey a symbolic history of a people ' . 

The importance of Alex Haley and the impact of his work on television history should not be underestimated . To fully appreciate the contribution he made to medium , the African-American community and the country , his work must be examined within a context of changing demographics , historical events at home and abroad and , most important , the centuries-long struggle of a people to be recognized as full-fledged members of the national community .